He associates with a circle of Parisian artists and writers (including Paul Gauguin and Edvard Munch), but often fears they are ridiculing and persecuting him.

In his isolation, Strindberg successfully attempts alchemical experiments that apparently violate the laws of chemistry, and has his work published in prominent journals.

Strindberg's grandmother-in-law shows great disdain towards him and forces him to move back-and-forth between the towns of Saxen (where his daughter lives) and Klam.

Strindberg combines the teachings of Swedenborgianism with Catholicism, Lutheranism and various world mythologies, and states that Swedenborg's works have predicted various events from his life.

If any reader holds it for mere invention, he is invited to inspect my journal, which I have kept daily since 1895, of which this book is only an elaborated and expanded extract.A translation to English by Claud Field (1863–1941) was published by G. P. Putnam's Sons in 1912.