Flatland
Subtitle: A Romance of Many Dimensions
By: Edited with an Introduction and Notes by Rosemary Jann
Contributors: Rosemary Jann (Editor)
Series: Oxford World's Classics
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Published: July 17, 2006
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Format: Paperback
Number of pages: 160
ISBN-13: 9780192805980
Copyright date: 2006, Editorial material, Rosemary Jann
Description: **‘Upward, and yet not Northward.’**

How would a creature limited to two dimensions be able to grasp the possibility of a third? Edwin A. Abbott’s droll and delightful ‘romance of many dimensions’ explores this conundrum in the experiences of his protagonist, A Square, whose linear world is invaded by an emissary Sphere bringing the gospel of the third dimension on the eve of the new millennium. Part geometry lesson, part social satire, this classic work of science fiction brilliantly succeeds in enlarging all readers’ imaginations beyond the limits of our ‘respective dimensional prejudices’. In a world where class is determined by how many sides you possess, and women are straight lines, the prospects for enlightenment are boundless, and Abbott’s hypotheses about a fourth and higher dimensions seem startlingly relevant today.

This new edition of *Flatland* illuminates the social and intellectual context that produced the work as well as the timeless questions that it raises about the limits of our perception and knowledge.
Table of contents: title: Acknowledgements
pagenum: vi; title: Introduction
pagenum: vii; title: Note on the Text
pagenum: xxxiv; title: Select Bibliography
pagenum: xxxvi; title: A Chronology of Edwin A. Abbott
pagenum: xxxix; title: FLATLAND
pagenum: 1; label: PART I
title: THIS WORLD; label: 1
title: Of the Nature of Flatland
pagenum: 15; label: 2
title: Of the Climate and Houses in Flatland
pagenum: 18; label: 3
title: Concerning the Inhabitants of Flatland
pagenum: 21; label: 4
title: Concerning the Women
pagenum: 25; label: 5
title: Of our Methods of Recognizing one another
pagenum: 31; label: 6
title: Of Recognition by Sight
pagenum: 36; label: 7
title: Concerning Irregular Figures
pagenum: 42; label: 8
title: Of the Ancient Practice of Painting
pagenum: 46; label: 9
title: Of the Universal Colour Bill
pagenum: 49; label: 10
title: Of the Suppression of the Chromatic Sedition
pagenum: 53; label: 11
title: Concerning our Priests
pagenum: 58; label: 12
title: Of the Doctrine of our Priests
pagenum: 61; label: PART II
title: OTHER WORLDS; label: 13
title: How I had a Vision of Lineland
pagenum: 69; label: 14
title: How in my Vision I endeavoured to explain the nature of Flatland, but could not
pagenum: 74; label: 15
title: Concerning a Stranger from Spaceland
pagenum: 80; label: 16
title: How the Stranger vainly endeavoured to reveal to me in words the mysteries of Spaceland
pagenum: 84; label: 17
title: How the Sphere, having in vain tried words, resorted to deeds
pagenum: 92; label: 18
title: How I came to Spaceland and what I saw there
pagenum: 95; label: 19
title: How, though the Sphere showed me other mysteries of Spaceland, I still desired more; and what came of it
pagenum: 100; label: 20
title: How the Sphere encouraged me in a Vision
pagenum: 108; label: 21
title: How I tried to teach the Theory of Three Dimensions to my Grandson, and with what success
pagenum: 111; label: 22
title: How I then tried to diffuse the Theory of Three Dimensions by other means, and of the result
pagenum: 114; title: Explanatory Notes
pagenum: 119