"Arab" Eyes

In preparation for a possible trip to Spain, I have been reading A Romantic in Spain: Books by Theophile Gautier. I stumbled on this book when I first went (i am one of those people that reads a one foot high pile of books about a country before I go, immerse myself in its music, food and so forth- sort of like an armchair Sir Richard Francis Burton.

Although I have found this book tedious in places his acidic humor makes it worth it as does his spot on observations about Spain, art and sometimes nuances of human nature. His description of the eyes of Andalusian women which he calls 'arab' made my mouth drop while reading it on the subway.

"When a women or a girl passes you by, she deliberately lowers her eyelids, then suddenly raises them and darts at you a glance of irresistible brilliance, then rolls her eyes once more and lowers her lashes.. nobody.....can give any idea of the inflammatory glances which Spain has inherited from the Orient; we have no terms to express this play of the ey-; ojear is a word lacking in our vocabulary. Yet the sudden, vivid flash of these glances, which almost embarrasses foreigners has nothing particularly significant about it, and is directed impartiallly at whatever happens to pass by. A young woman of Andalusia will cast the same passionate glance at a passing cart, a dog running after its tail or some children playing at bullfights. They eyes of the norther races are lifeless and empty compared to these, in them the sun has never left its reflection."

The passage is an almost perfect description of the physical movements of their eyes - and the remarkable and seemingly unconscious ability to project emotion, sensuality and vitality in casual glances. It has always intrigued me.

He also makes the humorous observation that they look at a cow or a horse cart the same way they might look at a man who might mistake the look for something more.

No not every Andalusian, Middle Eastern or Southern European woman has eyes like that. Far from it, in fact it's rather rare.....Of all the actresses I know two epitomized this ability one is Madhuri Dixit:

















Who even, as she glides into middle age has still 'got it'.
















The other is Vidya Balan:






With the slightest change in her facial expression she can go from tempest to still water. Is it the eyes? The mouth in relation? the larger proportion features? is it the Kohl? Don't know.