Book Review: Flatland by Edwin A. Abbott

Title: Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions
Author: Edwin A. Abbott
Published: New York: Dover, 1952 (1884)
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 103
Total Page Count: 105,207
Text Number: 304
Read Because: rereading and personal enjoyment, borrowed from century_eyes
Review: A square living in a two-dimensional plane explains his ingenious world, and his revelatory introduction to lands of fewer—and more—dimensions. I have fond memories of reading this book as a child, but this was my first time revisiting it since then—and it was quite an experience. What I remembered best is a brillaint, unique concept, and that's still there: there's nothing else out there like Flatland, a world that appears utterly alien but is in fact too well-realized to be unfamiliar. It's ingenious, and a delight to rediscover. Yet this slim volume offers more than that idea alone. About half the book is given over to infuriating social satire, which I'd forgotten about completely. The satire isn't always obvious as such: Flatland's society has an extreme view of the misogyny, classicism, and essentialism present in our own (and particularly in Abbott's Victorian era), but the sad truth is that it's not a grand exaggeration—and it's presented so blandly that it reads more like an unfortunate relic of prejudice than any sort of social commentary. As such, I worry that the satire may go over the heads of younger readers (I can't remember if it went over mine) and would be taken at face value; regardless, it feels almost out of place—not that it doesn't have moments of keen, even painful, insight, but it is quite disparate from the fascinating physics lesson that fills the rest of the book.

To wit, the other half of the book is a novel exploration of dimension, verifying and exploring the existence of four or more dimensions by exploring two and fewer. It may not render comprehensible the incomprehensible, but it's a strong argument for some sort of world greater than the one we know. Meanwhile, the dimensions explored by our narrator the square are fascinating. Abbott succeeds by taking his concept to its furthest extent: the lines and shapes have unusual societies which are greatly influenced by the nature and limitations of their worlds, surprisingly simple diagrams help the reader to enter these unusual lands himself, and Abbott often anticipates—and then answers—the questions and doubts that surround his strange ideas. He takes what seems to be a pure mathematical novelty and renders it from a dynamic, convincing first-person perspective—and while it remains just one imaginative interpretation of the issue at hand, it's a brilliant one and a great read. Abbott's voice can tend towards stilted and dated, but Flatland's combination of breadth and brevity nonetheless make it compelling. This may not be precisely the book that I remember, but it provides what I loved and remembered best: something ingenious and brilliantly realized, something intriguing and delightful and thought-provoking. I take more issue with Flatland now than I did then, but I find it fascinating above all and so recommend it despite lingering reservations.

Review posted here on Amazon.com.