MathFiction: Gulliver's Posthumous Travels to Riemann's Land and Lobachevskia (William Pepperell Montague)

a list compiled by Alex Kasman (College of Charleston)

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Gulliver's Posthumous Travels to Riemann's Land and Lobachevskia (1947)

William Pepperell Montague
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In this sequel to Swift's classic Gulliver's Travels (which is also mathematical), Barnard College philosopher Montague tells us of his dreams in which Gulliver shares with him the non-Euclidean geometry of his voyages for Riemann's Land and Lobachevskia. The point seems to be to emphasize the Aristotelean philosophical argument that space is neither finite nor infinite, but rather that these properties depend on your notion of measurement.

The story was actually presented as a speech before the Forum of the Society of Friends of Scripta Mathematica and then published in Vol. XIII (1947) of Scripta Mathematica, a quarterly journal published by Yeshiva University.

Thanks to Sandro Caparrini (Torino, Italy) for finding this gem!

(Note: This is just one work of mathematical fiction from the list. To see the entire list or to see more works of mathematical fiction, return to the Homepage.)

Works Similar to Gulliver's Posthumous Travels to Riemann's Land and Lobachevskia

According to my `secret formula', the following works of mathematical fiction are similar to this one:

Journey into Geometries by Marta Sved
The Pacific Mystery by Stephen Baxter
Goliijo by Alex Rose
Kazohinia [A Voyage to Kazohinia] by Sándor Szathmári
Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift
The Next Dimension by Vladimir Karapetoff
The Kissing Number by Ian Stewart
Into Thin Air by Colin Adams
Murder on the Einstein Express by Harun Šiljak
Intoxicating Heights (Höhenrausch. Die Mathematik des XX. Jahrhunderts in zwanzig Gehirnen) by Dietmar Dath

Ratings for Gulliver's Posthumous Travels to Riemann's Land and Lobachevskia:

Ratings

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Mathematical Content:
4/5 (1 votes)

Literary Quality:
2/5 (1 votes)

Categories:

Genre	Didactic,
Motif
Topic	Geometry/Topology/Trigonometry, Real Mathematics,
Medium	Short Stories,

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Where are the new works of mathematical fiction?: As you can see from this chronological listing, this database includes many works of mathematical fiction for each year from 1990 to 2025. Strangely, only two are listed for 2026, so far. Either less mathematical fiction is being published than in previous years or I'm just having more trouble finding it. If you know of any works of fiction that should be added to this list, especially recently published ones, please let me know. (Keep in mind that I do not include self-published works or children's fiction that just covers elementary mathematical concepts.) Thanks!

(Maintained by Alex Kasman, College of Charleston)