NPPF Commentary Line 238, P. 168, Part II

[Vince & Shelly Maeder]

Plain text version

II. Amber 
 
1) This is a literal reference to amber which is a yellowish hardened
tree resin.  The Archeology Wordsmith states that amber is a "Fossilized
pine resin, a transparent yellow, Orange, or reddish-brown material from
coniferous trees. It is amorphous, having a specific gravity of
1.05-1.10 and hardness of 2-2.5 on the Mohs scale, and has two varieties
-- gray and yellow. amber was appreciated and popular in antiquity for
its beauty and its supposed magical properties. The southeast coast of
the Baltic Sea is its major source in Europe, with lesser sources near
the North Sea and in the Mediterranean. amber is washed up by the sea.
There is evidence of a strong trade in amber up the Elbe, Vistula,
Danube, and into the Adriatic Sea area. The trade began in the Early
Bronze Age and expanded greatly with the Mycenaeans and again with the
Iron Age peoples of Italy. The Phoenicians were also specialist traders
in amber. The soft material was sometimes carved for beads and
necklaces." 
http://www.archaeology-wordsmith.com/cgi-bin/lookup.cgi?category=&where=
headword&terms=amber
 
2) Also referenced are the preservative properties (embalming of the
ant) of amber.  This is a particularly good metaphor for the
"preservation" Mr. Kinbote has attempted to perform on Mr. Shade's canto
as well as his attempt to preserve his real or imagined history as
Zemblan king.  But, which is the cicada, what is the amber, and who is
the ant?  "Amber's preservative properties were demonstrated 1992 when
DNA was extracted from insects estimated to be around 30 million years
old which were found fossilized in amber, and in 1995 US scientists
succeeded in extracting bacterial spores from a bee in amber that was 40
million years old. Despite their lengthy dormancy, the bacterial spores
were successfully germinated." 
http://www.tiscali.co.uk/reference/dictionaries/animalsplants/data/m0002
854.html
Cf. http://www.galleries.com/minerals/mineralo/amber/amber.htm
Some good specimens of amber are here:
http://www.galleries.com/scripts/item.exe?LIST+Minerals+Mineraloides+Amb
er
 
3) Amber could also be an allusion to trapping unsuspecting insects,
animals and plants.  Here, as a metaphor, it works well concerning the
author's attempt to trap the reader into a reading of the commentary as
written by Mr. Kinbote and the canto as written by Mr. Shade.