In his Book Famous last words, Timothy Findley talks about how rare an occasion it is that people look "eye-to-eye" when they speak with each other:
It was unnerving at first to have the king so close. I never knew where to look, and was always staring him straight in the eye. He was wary of this and avoided it at all costs and I thought for certain I had made some dreadful gaff in protocol. In the end, of course, I came to my senses and realized that very few conversaions with anyone are held "eye-to-eye" unless one is trying to intimidate the listener - or perhaps if one is making love. People´s eyes so rarely meet in the normal course of events, it can be quite alarming when it happens and I think the King must have thought I was somewhat peculiar at first. I was known as that man who stares, Wallis told me - and then we all had a good laugh about it. It was, I explained, a writers prerequisite to stare - and they accepted this.chiefpedro in Literatur | TrackBack(0)