The intended meaning of these parables is controversial. (For instance, some argue that it is an example of Marxist literature while others argue that it is anti-communist literature.) In an article published in the Journal of Humanistic Mathematics in January 2019, Susan Siggelakis argues that the story is "an exercise" in Platonism, and that its portrayal of mathematics is essential.

I am not convinced that either Platonism or mathematics are of great importance to this work, but math certainly shows up in a few examples. The Hins use the truth of statements like "1+1=2" and the falsehood of "1+1=5" to explain to Gulliver that illogical things simply do not exist. (In their view, the Behins themselves do not exist.) And, in contrast, the wacky Behins insist on proclaiming mathematical falsehoods as truths. One example is that the Behins say that a circle has two foci and that the sum of the radii is a constant. Gulliver tries to point out that this is false, because that is the description of an ellipse rather than a circle. (Note: I would not say it is false. In the sense that a circle is a special kind of ellipse with equal semi-major and semi-minor axes, it is also true of circles.) Similarly, the Behins forbid anyone from claiming that the points on a circle are equidistant from the center.

Kazohinia was first written in Hungarian and later translated into Esperanto and English. Thanks to Allan Goldberg for bringing this work of mathematical fiction to my attention.

BTW As I mentioned above, there are many interpretations of this work. Christopher Badcock wrote to me about a modern psychological interpretation he presents in his Psychology Today blog: "the Hins look very much as if they collectively suffer from high functioning autism spectrum disorder (ASD); while the Behins are afflicted with diametrically opposite psychotic spectrum disorder (PSD)".