Een Droom

A diary-like narrative traces a declining man's withdrawal, illness, and the efforts of his devoted sister and a friend to restore him by taking him to a mountain retreat. The ascent and the highland setting—the cool, thin air, drifting clouds, rows of delicate pines, ravines, and waterfalls—are described with vivid, sensory detail. Natural spectacle gradually stimulates bodily recovery and a modest spiritual awakening, while interwoven reflections on melancholy, philosophical reading, and the pressures of his social milieu explain his prior despondency.