Die abgewendeten rotgeweinten Augen einer Jungfrau, die reist allein von Verona nach München über Innsbruck
– Fritz Tegler
If you want to know, in any sense, another, an Other, any other person, first observe them discretely. Best to do this indirectly.
In this sad era, the most effective means of so doing has become increasingly rare. Now trains are not only faster, which reduces total observation time, but open-plan carriages have largely replaced compartmented ones.
Only on a few train lines leading from certain countries can one still find these mobile glass boxes, which, even when almost empty, are full of reflected images, reflections in general.
To wit: against a landscape of snow-covered mountains passing by outside, itself already translucent, one’s own distorted gaze on the smeared window glass and, through and behind, the averted, reddened eyes of a young woman traveling alone from Verona to Munich via Innsbruck.