Harriet Bosse, a delicate beauty with rich theatrical talent, was an inspiration for the prominent and controversial playwright August Strindberg. After their three-year marriage collapsed, she became his interpreter to the world, guardian of the Strindberg legend.
This first biography of Harriet Bosse in English explores her own important career as an actress on the Swedish stage, as well as her influence on Strindberg’s work. Waal has separated Harriet Bosse from her romanticized image in the shadow of August Strindberg and has shown her as a person, fascinating and self-sufficient. Her daughter-in-law Randi Wingård said: "Harriet was a great personality, and even if she was tiny, one could not help noticing her in any gathering. She attracted everyone’s attention." While tracing the development of Bosse’s career, her triumphs and disappointments, Waal chronicles the beginnings of Swedish filmmaking in early silent films as well as four decades of major developments in Swedish theatre.
But Bosse’s marriage to Strindberg and her relationship to his writing are an integral part of her story, and Waal also details the couple’s stormy marriage, from 1901 to 1903, the reasons for its failure, and the personal and career influences they continued to exert on each other. As Strindberg’s inspiration for many literary works, Bosse was alternately vilified and idealized. Much of what Strindberg wrote after meeting Bosse reflects his adoration of her and his despair over the problems of their relationship. She inspired two of his major works of poetry, "The Golden Eagle" and "The Dutchman," in addition to the character of the ****** princess in Swan White. On stage she played eight minor and six major Strindberg roles, including Indra’s Daughter in A Dream Play and Christina in Queen Christina.
Much information for this book is drawn from previously inaccessible sources, including unpublished materials in libraries, archives, and private collections, mostly in Scandinavia. Waal interviewed Strindberg and Bosse’s daughter Anne Marie Wyller Hagelin (to whom the book is dedicated) as well as other members of Bosse’s family and a wide range of actors, critics, directors, and scholars. Forty-one photographs are included in the text

Tuhade layi je ladna paya mainu taqdeera naal,

Haske mai lad laungi tuhadi khushiyan waal.



Tuhade waal je aaya koi dukhe ve,

Saamne mai khadungi mahiye.



Chhetti chhetti aaja jaane meriye,

Bade cher tou tuhadi yaad aundiye.



Ik pal vi tuhade baajo reha nai jiunda,

Sab tou khushnaseeb haa mai tussi jo mile tohfa rabb da.



Mai tuhadi si, tuhadi haa, tuhadi hi rahangi,

Tuhade saaha naal hi sadde saah chalde jaani.



Saddi har khushi tuhade naal ve,

Tussi meri zindagi ** jaan aye meriye.



Sadde ehsaasa ch vi rooh jiundi,

Bin chue vi mehsoos kr lendi.



Es pagli nu mera paglu hi samjh sakda,

Tuhade bajo ek pal vi dil nahi lagda.



Raatan nu neend ni aundi,

Tuhade khayalan ch mai khoyi rendi.



Tussi aisi nigaahan mainu takeya,

Mere dil,rooh jaan ch bs ohi chehra vaseya.



Sawere uthde vi sab tou pehla tuhada naam mai lendi,

Tuhanu hi har janam mai os rabb kolu mangdi.



Lawan baahan ch samet kaayenaat assi,

Jado lawo sanu aapde seene naal tussi.



Tuahde naal jahan sadda,

Sab tou anmol tukda ** sadde dil da.



Chand naal chandani je,

Taareyan naal raat ve.



Tuhade naal saddi har zindagi ve,

Sacchiyan mohabbbatan tuhade naal la baithe.



Jithe jithe tussi hove,

Tuhade picche picche sanu hi pave.



Tuhade naam assi kr ditta har janam,

Har dadhkan ch tuhadi chahat haigi sanam.



Saada har mukaam tuhadiyan hi raahan ch,

Jeena marna sab tuhadiyan baahan vich.



Bhaagan wali haa mai jo mileya saanu eho jeya mahiya,

Mainu mera sohneya saddi jaan tou vi piyareya.



Gale ch mangalsutra,

Baneya raksha sutra.



Tuhada naam jado sadde naam nu poora kareya,

Tuhade kol mera dil ve sadde pyaar di nishaniya.



Chhetti chhetti aaja mahiya le ja aapdi jaan nu aapda bna ke,

Hatthan ch mehndi, baahan ch chudiyan, matthe tey sindoor aapde naam da bhar ke.

Do you know How I treat you?
In my mind, In my heart?
Complex answer which can't be cut,
Wherever my life goes
There you flow,
Every moment I find you,
My heart gets extra dimensions with no clue.
Then after things increased its dimensions to top
And my heart grew a single huge loving crop.
The way I promised the crop to never leave
It in any harsh field,
You are the crop, You are that love,
Whom I found as a blue dove.
Never loved you as a girlfriend
Though, I went to be your best friend.
Dove was blue, thing was different,
The mind is fluent.
And yeah, I loved you more than those
Relations and it was an unexampled love like a transparent rose.
Actually, I don't know anything about life
Let the ignorance and anger come which I can rife.
Let them flow like a stream
No one will mind, but the anger will go and finish like a sweet cream.
I though, we have got better than ionic bond
But actually it was just a weak Vander Waal Force around,
Things just broke
With a single wind stroke,
Just Left me thinking
The consequences,
If I had pretended, used the fertilizer
The crop wouldn't have left the heart
And this unmovable heart
Failed to treat, failed to understand, failed to live.
Curse me, I couldn't understand the feelings in the crop.