Review: Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions

Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions by Edwin A. Abbott
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions, by Edwin A. Abbott, is an interesting, if somewhat dry, novel. In it, we're introduced to the citizens of Flatland, a world of two dimensions. There, geometric shapes live out their lives, oblivious to the existence of the third dimension. One day, a sphere intrudes upon the narrator's life, and forces him to confront the reality of the third dimension. This simple act opens up new avenues of thought and possibility, but puts him at odds with his government, which strictly forbids even discussing the possibility of a third dimension.

Abbott's text is heavy handed satire. His scathing indictments of various aspects of Victorian society are numerous and blunt. Women are denied even minimal education and are treated as complete dullards incapable of controlling their emotions, while the men in Flatland learn to doublespeak around them to prevent raising their ire, lest the women skewer them, killing them. Society is ruled by closed minded clerics who base a person's value on the number of sides they have. The closer to a true circle a citizen of Flatland is, the more perfect and valuable they are.

While the book is overflowing with blunt social commentary, the real meat is in the exploration of dimensions. The book provides a simple and effective allegory to illustrate how difficult-nigh impossible-it is to describe dimensions above/beyond the ones we are accustomed to seeing. The exploration of Pointland, Flatland, and Spaceland, and the accompanying dialog between the sphere and the square, are easily the best part of Flatland. As a criticism of closed minded thinking and hypocritical science, it's quite effective.

A somewhat dry, overly didactic first half but a very engaging and illuminating second make this a somewhat uneven, but mostly enjoyable read.

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