Flatland
Critique • Quotes
Original title
Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions
First publication
1884
Literature form
Novella
Genres
Satire, science fiction
Writing language
English
Author's country
England
Length
Approx. 33,000 words
Notable lines
I call my world Flatland, not because we call it so, but to make its nature clearer to you, my happy readers, who are privileged to live in Space.
— First line
Alas, how strong a family likeness runs through blind and persecuting humanity in all Dimensions! Points, Lines, Squares, Cubes, Extra-Cubes—we are all liable to the same errors, all alike the Slaves of our respective Dimensional prejudices....
It is part of the martyrdom which I endure for the cause of Truth that there are seasons of mental weakness, when Cubes and Spheres flit away into the background of scarce-possible existences; when the Land of Three Dimensions seems almost as visionary as the Land of One or None; nay, when even this hard wall that bars me from my freedom, these very tablets on which I am writing, and all the substantial realities of Flatland itself, appear no better than the offspring of a diseased imagination, or the baseless fabric of a dream.
— Last line
Critique • Quotes