"Abbott, Edwin A - Flatland" - читать интересную книгу автора (Abbott Edwin A)

see a fulfilment of the great Law of all worlds, that while the wisdom
of Man thinks it is working one thing, the wisdom of Nature constrains
it to work another, and quite a different and far better thing." For
the rest, he begs his readers not to suppose that every minute detail
in the daily life of Flatland must needs correspond to some other
detail in Spaceland; and yet he hopes that, taken as a whole, his work
may prove suggestive as well as amusing, to those Spacelanders of
moderate and modestminds who -- speaking of that which is of the
highest importance, but lies beyond experience -- decline to say on
the one hand, "This can never be," and on the other hand, "It must
needs be precisely thus, and we know all about it."
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Footnote 1. The Author desires me to add, that the misconceptions of
some of his critics on this matter has induced him to insert (on pp.
74 and 92) in his dialogue with the Sphere, certain remarks which have
a bearing on the point in question and which he had previously omitted
as being tedious and unnecessary.


* * *


FLATLAND

PART 1

THIS WORLD



SECTION 1. -- Of the Nature of Flatland

I call our world Flatland, not because we cal it so, but to make
its nature clearer to you, my happy readers, who are privileged to
live in Space.
Imagine a vast sheet of paper on which straight Lines, Triangles,
Squares, Pentagons, Hexagons, and other figures, instead of remaining
fixed in their places, move freely about, on or in the surface, but
without the power of rising above or sinking below it, very much like
shadows -- only hard with luminous edges -- and you will then have a
pretty correct notion of my country and countrymen. Alas, a few years
ago, I should have said "my universe": but now my mind has been
opened to higher views of things.
In such a country, you will perceive at once that it is impossible
that there should be anything of what you call a "solid" kind; but I
dare say you will suppose that we could at least distinguish by sight
the Triangles, Squares, and other figures, moving about as I have
described them. On the contrary, we could see nothing of the kind,
not at least so as to distinguish one figure from another. Nothing
was visible, nor could be visible, to us, except Straight Lines; and