with Dr Jessica Terekhov and Dr James Kneller
Content Information: Suicide
The year is 1999 and its New Year’s Eve. Mr A. Square and his wife are in their sitting room in the two-dimensional realm of flatland. After pondering a particular geometrical challenge, Mr Square is accosted by a visitor who sparks a series of events which dramatically alter Mr Square’s worldview, and leads to his eventual imprisonment, and the creation of the memoir Flatland. The visitor was a ‘sphere’ from ‘spaceland’ who initiates him into the wonders of the third dimension. Flatland was published in 1884 and was written by Edwin A. Abbot. It’s split into two parts, This World and Other Worlds, and documents the history, politics and culture of Flatland, a two-dimensional realm with a strict social hierarchy determined by shape and bloodline. The more sides you have, the higher your rank. The world is governed by priests or circular polygons. The nobility have at least six sides. The professional men are squares or pentagons. Middle class citizens are isosceles triangles. Soldiers and the lowest workmen are triangles with two equal sides. Finally, women are in a class of their own, and take the form of straight lines. It’s a book about geometry, physics, class, gender, knowledge and power.
*Coming December/January 25/26
Radical Writing Podcast 