Edwin A. Abbott (1838–1926)

A satire of Victorian cultural norms, it's the story of a denizen of a two dimensional world, a square by the name A. Square. The first half skewers the class system and the deplorable condition of women. Going into this book, I thought it was only a satire of the class system, so I initially believed the misogyny was merely background noise. After a few pages though, it became so outrageous that I realized it was also satirical. Bravo, M Abbot. At the end there's some stuff about art, show more science, and individual expression, but I'm not sure how successful that was/is.
The second half concerns A Square's dream of a one dimensional world, and a forced journey to 3D world wherein he can see the nature of his own world. This forms the background into some pointed questions about political authority and religious veracity, especially when Square attempts to get a 3D Sphere to contemplate a 4th dimension. It's a bit forced, and is less satire and more questioning, but I think it still works.
4 stars oc, 3.5 for the book, and an extra .5 because my copy smells fantastic. show less

What struck me most, when I read this years ago, was the author's plea for keeping an open mind: we should accept the idea that there may be four or more dimensions. (see p. 88 and p. 95) Similarly, we should accept the idea that we don't know everything knowable. And of course, thanks to Godel, we have to accept that there are things we can never know.

Rereading it now, the author has constructed an interesting society where polygons that are most like circles run society and have instilled show more some convenient ideas in everyone else: For example, when a sphere manages to talk the narrator, the square explains: "'More merciful, more loving!' But these are the qualities of women! And as we know that a Circle is a higher Being than a Straight Line [a woman], in so far as knowledge and wisdom are more to be esteemed than mere affection." [p. 83]. Women, being straight lines and not even polygons, are clearly inferior. show less

Flatland is a clever book. It may be about two dimensions, but it works on more than one. Like a lot of the best science fiction, it allows us to imagine a world unlike ours while telling us something about the world like ours. At the same time Abbott through his obtuse (lol) narrator, A. Square, is telling us about this fantastic two-dimensional world he's constructed, he's also telling us something about our world; there's a lot of commentary on Victorian gender packed in here, for show more example. For example, the greatest men actually have what are technically feminine characteristics-- so a law has to be passed to make it clear that that characteristic is good in a man, but bad in a woman (55). Oddly, like in Bulwer's The Coming Race from a decade prior, women in the world of Flatland have enormous destructive power (27-8). There must be some kind of metaphor going on that I can't quite unpack; in Flatland, apartments are designed to prevent women from exercising their power (31), and that has to be some kind of commentary on the Victorian home, surely?

The best part of the book in my mind is surely the story of the Sphere who lords his extra dimension over A. Square, but cannot conceive of a four-dimensional world where he himself is less powerful. A. Square can extrapolate by analogy even though he has never seen such a world, but the Sphere cannot. To draw a connection to another late Victorian science fiction work, it puts me in mind of what Wells did in The War of the Worlds: the Martians were to the English as the English were to the Tasmanians, but until the Martians came, no one could conceive of a power with that relationship to us. By giving us a world with fewer dimensions than our own, Flatland prompts us to imagine that there must be a world out there with more, and that is its greatest cleverness. show less

"Estar satisfecho de sí mismo es ser ruin e ignorante, y [tener] algo a que aspirar es mejor que ser ciega e impotentemente feliz"

Este libro ha significado para mi una grata sorpresa. Lo comencé con incredulidad, dada su fama de libro didáctico de matemáticas, con lo cuál cumple en aspectos que son muy sencillos de entender, pero al mismo tiempo cuenta con una historia que bien podría pasar, en parte, como una muy rara distopía (aunque tampoco podría simplemente embolsarlo en ese show more genero).

"Todos somos proclives a los mismo errores, todos igual de esclavos de nuestros respectivos prejuicios"

La historia va narrada por un cuadrado que nos cuenta la vida y los habitantes, así como la jerarquía social, de Planilandia, una "ciudad/país/universo" de 2 dimensiones, cuya estructura es una muestra muy representativa de como se regia la sociedad hacia finales de los 1800, muy inteligente la forma en que,sin resultar políticamente incorrecto, Abbott ofreció una buena crítica a la actitud de los gobernantes, el relegado papel de la mujer y la imposibilidad de lograr alcanza una vida mejor.

"Os creéis la perfección de la existencia y sois en realidad el más imperfecto y estúpido de los seres"

La vida de este cuadrado da un giro dramático la noche del cambio de milenio, cuando tiene un sueño acerca de un universo completamente diferente al suyo. Tras este revelación (y otras posteriores) la vida del cuadrado, y su percepción de ella, cambia completamente hasta que finalmente es llevado a la cárcel por revelar una verdad que los gobernantes de Planilandia no creen, y no desean que sea difundida. A partir de este punto Abbott comienza a dar mayor interés a la historia.

El final es simplemente la realidad de lo que sucede cuando un individuo, aunque tenga razón, se contrapone y desobedece los designio de quienes están en el poder, pero al mismo tiempo muestra que a pesar de la adversidad uno debe mantener su ideología y su esencia. show less