I had a funny experience reading Crime and Punishment. I read it IMMEDIATELY after I’d read A Confederacy of Dunces, and as a result, I kinda’ visualized Raskolnikov as a silly Ignatius/Falstaffian character.

Which… well, kinda’ changed the tone of the book for me.

I’ve since re-read it and had the experience more likely intended by Dostoyevski.

For those of you who are baffled by all this, let me tell you: I find this strip EXTREMELY romantic.

Probably explains a lot of difficulty I’ve had in my life.

I loved that book, and even used it for the foreword of book #1.

I think the piggy-back thing is a sweet set-up.

Ah, romance. And Dostoyevski. I wonder if I was thinking about meeting Anya…. hm. So long ago.

This is one of those strips which is purely playing out my own personal fears, although fortunately most of these fears no longer plague me. But at the time, this is what I would imagine/fear happening if I approached someone in a cafe.