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Flatland

Critique • Quotes

Flatland, first editionFirst edition
By Edwin A. Abbott
Publication details ▽ Publication details △

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

See also:

Erewhon

Brave New World

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Flatland

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