To
The inhabitants of SPACE IN GENERAL
AND H.C. IN PARTICULAR
This Work is Dedicated
By a Humble Native of Flatland
In the Hope that
Even as he was initiated into the Mysteries
OF THREE Dimensions
Having being previously conversant
With ONLY TWO
So the citizens of that Celestial Region
May aspire yet higher and higher
To the Enlargement of THE IMAGINATION
And the possible Development
Of that most rare and excellent Gift of MODESTY
Among the Superior Races
OF SOLID HUMANITY
Ahem. Well. In my last post, I said that I liked left-field dedications and this is certainly one of them. This is also quite unusual as this dedication is written as part of the story. Well what a story. The protagonist talks about his world which is called Flatlands. In this world, people are different shapes and these shapes are dictated by their class (e.g. lower working class are triangles, middle classes are equal-sided triangles, professional men are squares and nobility are five sided figures or pentagons. The higher in class they are, the more sides they have apart from circles who are priests and the highest class of all. All women, regardless of class are straight lines. Inhabitants of Flatlands can only see in two dimensions and the writer attempts to describe how Flatlanders see their world (Imagine putting a penny on the table and then lower your head to the table top until the round penny looks like a straight line). To distinguish between each other, they have to ‘feel’ each other. However, the higher classes learn to distinguish each other by sight by seeing shade and light on their sides. Right, with me so far? Good. No? Well, it took me a while too.
By mimicking and exaggerating elements of our own world, it makes the reader question why do they in their world, and in turn, why do we, in our own world, do that? This novella was written in Victorian times and I wondered if it was a satire on real life. It was first published anonymously at first which makes me think that the novel was definitely a statement on society. It was later found out that a vicar had written the book. Hmm… The treatment of women is oppressive to protect them as they are volatile and fragile so they are likely to break when having one of those womanly rages. Was it an ironic statement about the general notion of women at the time? The strict hierarchy of classes and blatant discrimination between them is an obvious statement about Victorian England at the time. The class system reminded me of George Orwell’s novel ‘1984’ but obviously this was written first!
The first two thirds of the book describe his world and the last third involves a third dimension shape, a sphere entering his world and showing him how flat his world is by taking him up into space and into the three-dimensional world. However, the protagonist wants to know more and at first he thought the sphere was a god, an image of perfection. However once the Protagonist realises that another world is possible, he deduces that there must be another worlds with even more dimensions and wants to see more. He is promptly put back into his world. Is it a comment on human nature? Are we never happy with what we are given or shown? What do science and religion mean here? It was an interesting book, particularly writing a blog about it, it has made me think more about what it could mean and what the author wanted to achieve. However, was it enjoyable to read? No. there was no plot as such and the plot at the end was too short-lived. Without a plot to hang onto, I found the book quite tedious so sometimes I would find myself staring out of a window or frequently checking to see how many pages I had left. That is never a good sign. However it did make me think a lot for a short book. It was a book that would be better to read if it was being studied for a class, but wasn’t really a pleasurable read. In short, it was a book for the brain, rather than the heart.
I started this Challenge to broaden my horizons in my reading world just like Roald Dahl’s Matilda and all the joys she discovers. However, it doesn’t mention anything about what you have to wade through to find these gems. Also, I’ve realised that it takes more than reading a book to broaden my horizon, it takes me to open my mind to really embrace a novel (especially ones that I find difficult to get into due to a lack of plot). Well there you go, two books in and I’ve already learnt something!
The Reading Marathon 