Several of Paul’s novels were considered obscene because of their violent and abnormal sexual content. In "The Ripper", one of the stories was an imaginary diary of Jack the Ripper with graphic details. Another short story, "Oidipus i Norden", was inspired by an 1889 murder in south Sweden, Yngsjömordet, where a mother and her son had an incestuous relationship and bludgeoned the son’s wife to death. "The Ripper" was not the only novel banned as obscene. After the release of "Die Madonna mit dem Rosenbush", (The Madonna with the rose bush) in 1904, the publisher was sued. The novel’s main character is an artist who delivers a different work than the portrait he was commissioned to paint, enraging his client. The novel, which is set in 16th-century Lübeck, describes conflicts between Catholics and Lutherans and contains some debauchery. It was translated into Swedish.