Literary notes about Veneer (AI summary)
The word "veneer" has been employed in literature both as a literal description and a powerful metaphor. In some texts, it denotes an actual thin layer of material—such as the delicate wood veneer prepared for decorative trimming or the marble veneer adorning a room's walls [1][2]. In other instances, writers have used "veneer" figuratively to describe superficial facades that mask a more complex or even savage reality. W. E. B. Du Bois, for example, implies that the outward civility is only a "thin veneer" over an inner savagery [3], a notion echoed in the depiction of supposedly cultured peoples hiding their more primitive essence [4]. Likewise, H. G. Wells portrays a "theatrical veneer" capable of erasing personal identity entirely [5]. Even in mathematical playful puzzles, the term appears, suggesting a delicate, almost ornamental quality in its construction [6][7][8].
- It was expected that the trunk would show figured curly grain and plans were made to have at least a part of the log cut into veneer.
— from Northern Nut Growers Association Report of the Proceedings at the 44th Annual Meeting - Parthian marble veneer covered with lacy Van tapestries from Santos formed the walls.
— from The Lani People by Jesse F. Bone - To be sure, there were things sometimes to reveal the basic savagery and thin veneer.
— from Darkwater: Voices from Within the Veil by W. E. B. Du Bois - Savages—hiding under a thin veneer of superficial culture.
— from The Lani People by Jesse F. Bone - A kind of theatrical veneer threatened to plate over and obliterate my private individuality altogether.
— from The Country of the Blind, and Other Stories by H. G. Wells - SQUARE OF VENEER.
— from Amusements in Mathematics by Henry Ernest Dudeney - Divide the Yin and the Yan into four pieces of the same size, but different shape, by one straight cut. 159.—THE SQUARE OF VENEER.
— from Amusements in Mathematics by Henry Ernest Dudeney - —— —— Digital, 16 , 159 . —— of Veneer, The, 39 , 175 . —— Puzzle, An Easy, 35 , 170 .
— from Amusements in Mathematics by Henry Ernest Dudeney
