# The Inferno — Chapters explained

> Chapter companions for The Inferno by August Strindberg.

- [Epigraph](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_inferno_se/chapters/epigraph.md): The epigraph quotes a Latin phrase attributed to St. Remigius, urging the proud Segambre to bow his head, worship what he has burned, and burn what he has worshipped, setting a tone of conversion and reversal.
- [The Inferno](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_inferno_se/chapters/the-inferno.md): The narrator describes his descent into a personal hell, marked by intense suffering, paranoia, and spiritual crisis. He recounts experiences of isolation, persecution, and supernatural occurrences, ultimately framing hi
- [I: The Hand of the Invisible](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_inferno_se/chapters/i-the-hand-of-the-invisible.md): The narrator, having parted from his wife at a railway station, experiences a mix of liberation and guilt. He pursues chemical experiments in his Paris room, believing he has discovered carbon in sulphur, but his hands b
- [II: St. Louis Leads Me to Orfila](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_inferno_se/chapters/ii-st-louis-leads-me-to-orfila.md): The narrator continues chemical experiments through winter, isolates himself, and reluctantly socializes with a bohemian artist circle. He becomes convinced of an invisible guiding hand, comparing it to Socrates' demon. 
- [III: Paradise Regained](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_inferno_se/chapters/iii-paradise-regained.md): Strindberg recounts the summer and autumn of 1895 as among the happiest of his life, marked by successful experiments, unexpected provisions, and a growing but formless religious sensibility. He describes his isolation i

> 15 more chapter companions — [open a free preview](https://www.betterreads.dev/reader?bookId=the_inferno_se_591kb&preview=1) to unlock the rest.

- [IV: The Fall and Paradise Lost](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_inferno_se/chapters/iv-the-fall-and-paradise-lost.md)
- [V: Purgatory](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_inferno_se/chapters/v-purgatory.md)
- [Extracts from My Journal](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_inferno_se/chapters/extracts-from-my-journal.md)
- [VI: Hell](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_inferno_se/chapters/vi-hell.md)
- [VII: Beatrice](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_inferno_se/chapters/vii-beatrice.md)
- [VIII: Swedenborg](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_inferno_se/chapters/viii-swedenborg.md)
- [IX: Extracts from the Diary of a Damned Soul](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_inferno_se/chapters/ix-extracts-from-the-diary-of-a-damned-soul.md)
- [X: The Eternal Has Spoken](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_inferno_se/chapters/x-the-eternal-has-spoken.md)
- [XI: Hell Let Loose](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_inferno_se/chapters/xi-hell-let-loose.md)
- [XII: Pilgrimage and Penance](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_inferno_se/chapters/xii-pilgrimage-and-penance.md)
- [XIII: The Deliverer](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_inferno_se/chapters/xiii-the-deliverer.md)
- [XIV: Tribulations](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_inferno_se/chapters/xiv-tribulations.md)
- [Whither?](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_inferno_se/chapters/xv-whither.md)
- [Epilogue](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_inferno_se/chapters/epilogue.md)
- [Endnotes](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_inferno_se/chapters/endnotes.md)

HTML index: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_inferno_se/chapters