Kalamdan

Edwin A. Abbott

Flatland

Science Fiction and Fantasy

Cover of Flatland

Start reading

Free to read. No account needed.

Language
English
First published
1884
Reading time
137 minutes
Chapters
25 chapters

About this book

Imagine a world with only two dimensions, length and breadth, where everyone is a flat shape: soldiers and workmen are triangles, gentlemen have more sides the higher their rank, and priests are circles.

In this short book a respectable Square describes the laws and customs of his country, until a strange visitor arrives from a world of three dimensions. Edwin A. Abbott, a London headmaster, published it in 1884 under the pen name "A Square". It is a playful way into thinking about higher dimensions and a sharp satire on Victorian ideas about class and about women.

“Be patient, for the world is broad and wide.”

Part I. This World

About this edition

  • Source

    Project Gutenberg (eBook #45506)

    Text version

    Project Gutenberg eBook #45506 (updated 24 October 2024), downloaded 7 November 2026: the first edition (London: Seeley & Co., 1884), published under the pen name "A Square". The title page, publisher's and printer's lines, dedication, contents list, repeated half-titles, the author's figures and closing vignette, the printer's imprint and the transcriber's notes were not imported. The two part pages with their epigraphs, the 22 sections and the author's three footnotes (gathered at the end, as in this file) are unchanged; section headings read "Section 1." where the book has "§ 1.".

  • License

    Public domain

    Copyright status last verified: 9 November 2026

  • Category

    Science Fiction and Fantasy

    Report a problem with this book

Chapters

25 chapters
  1. Part I. This World1 min
  2. Section 1. Of the Nature of Flatland4 min
  3. Section 2. Of the climate and houses in Flatland4 min
  4. Section 3. Concerning the Inhabitants of Flatland5 min
  5. Section 4. Concerning the Women9 min
  6. Section 5. Of our methods of recognizing one another8 min
  7. Section 6. Of Recognition by Sight8 min
  8. Section 7. Of Irregular Figures6 min
  9. Section 8. Of the Ancient Practice of Painting5 min
  10. Section 9. Of the Universal Colour Bill6 min
  11. Section 10. Of the Suppression of the Chromatic Sedition7 min
  12. Section 11. Concerning our Priests5 min
  13. Section 12. Of the Doctrine of our Priests8 min
  14. Part II. Other Worlds1 min
  15. Section 13. How I had a Vision of Lineland7 min
  16. Section 14. How I vainly tried to explain the nature of Flatland9 min
  17. Section 15. Concerning a Stranger from Spaceland6 min
  18. Section 16. How the Stranger vainly endeavoured to reveal to me in words the mysteries of Spaceland11 min
  19. Section 17. How the Sphere, having in vain tried words, resorted to deeds4 min
  20. Section 18. How I came to Spaceland, and what I saw there8 min
  21. Section 19. How, though the Sphere showed me other mysteries of Spaceland, I still desired more; and what came of it10 min
  22. Section 20. How the Sphere encouraged me in a Vision5 min
  23. Section 21. How I tried to teach the theory of Three Dimensions to my Grandson, and with what success5 min
  24. Section 22. How I then tried to diffuse the Theory of Three Dimensions by other means, and of the result7 min
  25. Footnotes1 min

More in Science Fiction and Fantasy

Start reading