Edwin Abbott

A work that still poses provocative questions about perception and reality, Flatland is a brilliant parody of Victorian society where all existence is limited to length and breadth - its inhabitants unable even to imagine a third dimension. The amiable narrator, A. Square, provides an overview of this fantastic world - its physics and metaphysics, its history, customs and religious beliefs. But when a strange visitor mysteriously appears and transports the incredulous Flatlander to the Land of Three Dimensions, his worldview is forever shattered. Written more than a century ago, Flatland offers an extraordinary animation of dimension, geometry and physical space that continues to resonate in contemporary science.

Flatland

A Concordance to the Works of Alexander Pope

Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions is an 1884 satirical novella by the English schoolmaster Edwin Abbott Abbott. Writing pseudonymously as "A Square", the book used the fictional two-dimensional world of Flatland to offer pointed observations on the social hierarchy of Victorian culture. However, the novella's more enduring contribution is its examination of dimensions. Several films have been made from the story, including a feature film in 2007 called Flatland. Other efforts have been short or experimental films, including one narrated by Dudley Moore and the short films Flatland: The Movie and Flatland 2: Sphereland starring Martin Sheen and Kristen Bell.

A Romance of Many Dimensions

A Flatlandia tutto ha due dimensioni: gli abitanti sono figure geometriche piane, l'alto e il basso non esistono, i tetti sono a nord e i pavimenti a sud. La società è organizzata in una rigida gerarchia che va dai Triangoli Isosceli alla perfezione dei Cerchi. Ci si riconosce "tastandosi", o intuendo il numero dei lati dal modo in cui sfumano nel Nebbione. C'è stato una volta il colore, ma è stato bandito per riportare tutto all'ordine e alla regolarità. Impossibile immaginare l'esistenza di altri universi. Fino a quando il narratore, un Quadrato, incontra una Sfera che lo trasporta a Spacelandia, un mondo a tre dimensioni, fatto di solidi, di altezze e di profondità. Che possa dunque esistere anche un mondo a quattro dimensioni? Jeu d'esprit e satira sociale, allegoria pedagogica e racconto di fantascienza, Flatlandia è un classico senza tempo, che unisce in modo sorprendente matematica e letteratura, e ci spinge a guardare oltre le nostre "dimensioni" e i nostri confini, per mettere da parte i preconcetti e viaggiare lontano con l'immaginazione.

FLATLANDIA

Classic of Science and Fiction, Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions is a satirical novella by Edwin A. Abbot. Using the world of Flatland he makes observations on the social hierarchy of Victorian culture. Abbot's two-dimensional world is occupied by geometric figures, women are simple lines as men are polygons. Following a square as he tries to convince the monarch of a second dimension but fails to make him see beyond his flat realm. Traveling to Spaceland the square thinks of other possibilities beyond the third dimension.

Edwin Abbott

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