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Math for Math's Sake: Non-Euclidean Geometry, Aestheticism, and Flatland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 October 2020

Andrea Henderson
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Abstract

This essay argues that Edwin Abbott's Flatland brings into focus the wide-ranging implications of the dethroning of what Victorians regarded as the preeminent representational system: Euclidean geometry. The contemporary debate surrounding the challenge to Euclid, conducted not just in mathematical but also in psychological, philosophical, and aesthetic terms, turned on an anxiety that signs might not have the capacity to bridge subjective and objective worlds, and Flatland seeks solace for this uncertainty by granting even empty signs unprecedented virtues.

Type
Victorian Cluster
Information
PMLA , Volume 124 , Issue 2 , March 2009 , pp. 455 - 471
Copyright
Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 2009

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