In "Inferno", the psychologically disturbed narrator sets forth on a journey through an earthly hell and emerges purified of his sins.

Alchemy, schizophrenia, witchcraft, and religious fanaticism, all leavened with a knowing wink of humour, "Inferno", by Swedish author August Strindberg is an early example of the “unreliable narrator” literary device, in which the reader learns that the storyteller is seeing things from a distorted perspective. It is also deliciously macabre.

"Inferno" is for the most part based on a diary that Strindberg kept between 1896 and 1908 - undoubtedly the most troubled period of his life.