Author: Edwin Abbot Abbout / Year: 1838-1926 / Genre: Sci-FiThe plot opens with a description of the fictional Flatland. The narrator calls himself “Square” and asks readers to
“Imagine a vast sheet of paper on which straight Lines, Squares, Triangles, Pentagons, Hexagons and other figures,
instead of remaining fixed in their places, move freely about... but without the power of rising above the surface o
r sinking below it, very much like shadows...” This is a country where the “solid” or the three dimensional do not exist.
The women are Straight Lines, while the men, depending on their status, are figures with three or more sides. The
lowest class are the Triangles, while the highest class of all are the Circles.
One night the Square has a dream about a world with two dimensions, but it turns out to be a nightmare, and Square
is glad to return to the “reality” of Flatland. He has another strange experience, when he has a visitation. A strange
presence enters his room. It is a Sphere. Square and his wife are shocked to see such a weird creature. But it begins
talking to them and informs them that it belongs to a world called Spaceland. Square visits Spaceland with his new
friend and once he realizes that more dimensions are possible, he undergoes a huge spiritual metamorphosis.
However the rulers of Flatland are not about to accept such subversive views.
