Date of Award
2-1987
Culminating Project Type
Thesis
Degree Name
English: M.A.
Department
English
College
College of Liberal Arts
First Advisor
Wayne Tosh
Second Advisor
Judith Kilborn
Third Advisor
Sandra Keith
Keywords and Subject Headings
Science fiction history, Mathematics and science fiction, Two-dimensional space and literature, Abbott, Edwin Abbott, Flatland criticism, Hinton, Charles Howard, Episode of Flatland criticism Burger, Dionys, Sphereland criticism Dewdney, A. K., Planverse criticism
Recommended Citation
Harper, Lila Marz, "A Century of Flatlands" (1987). Culminating Projects in English. 48.
https://repository.stcloudstate.edu/eng_etds/48
Comments/Acknowledgements
This thesis looks at four books concerned with the theme of life in a two-dimensional world and its analogical use in developing an understanding of higher dimensions. The four books examined are Edwin Abbott's Flatland (1884), Charles Hinton's An Episode of Flatland (1907), Dionys Burger's Sphereland (1956) and A. K. Dewdney's Planiverse (1984). These books show the changes in the treatment of a theme over the course of a century, reflecting the concerns of the period in which each book was written.
To better understand the goals of this unusual interdisciplinary literature which is able to unite concerns of both society and mathematics, the history of the development of non-Euclidean geometry, n-dimensional geometry and mathematical philosophy are discussed. In addition, the paper discusses the nature of science fiction, Abbott's background, and the publication history of the book.
The paper then examines interrelationships between Abbott's work, treatment of women and class distinctions in Victorian England and the Victorian crisis of faith. The physical world of Flatland is discussed and its social structure. It is found that euphemistic language is used in Flatland society to manipulate thought in a manner similar to that in George Orwell's 1984.
Abbott's physical world is then compared to that of the later books. Hinton's land was very different from Abbott's, and its physical laws were more logical, although characterization and plot were weak. Burger tried to incorporate Abbott's and Hinton's world but was more interested in the problem of two-dimensional life than in writing a believable story. Dewdney used Hinton's model, but, in spirit, his work is closer to Abbott's. Dewdney extrapolated the physical laws into biology, chemistry, and the applied sciences.
The emphasis of Abbott's theme of understanding an unknown dimension is changed in later books. Abbott was proposing a nonmystical explanation for the spiritual faith; he viewed it as an extrinsic force. Hinton's interpretation was that a higher dimension would be something intrinsic to the individual, an unrecognized part of human potential. For Burger, reacting to the technology of the 1950s, higher dimensions was a concept that modern man must understand. Dewdney's higher dimensions have lost their semantic connotations of higher consciousness; in Planiverse, development of spirituality is separate from the coordinates of a universe.