Flectere si nequeo superos, Acheronta movebo

You know, I've been here for a very long time. And I remember many things. I remember being at a shoreline, watching a little grey fish heave itself up on the beach and an older brother saying, "don't step on that fish, Castiel. Big plans for that fish." I remember the Tower of Babel...All 37 feet of it, which I suppose was impressive at the time. And when it fell, they howled 'divine wrath'. But come on - dried dung can only be stacked so high. I remember Cain and Abel...David and Goliath...Sodom and Gomorrah. And, of course, I remember the most remarkable event - remarkable because it never came to pass. It was averted by two boys, an old drunk and a fallen angel. The grand story. And we ripped up the ending and the rules... And destiny...leaving nothing but freedom and choice. Which is all well and good, except... Well, what if I've made the wrong choice? How am I supposed to know?

"Between 1500 and 1600 there were fifty-four women who published books and managed book establishments in Paris. While some of these women were substantial publishers, approximately half published for one or two years and then disappeared from view. Of those who had a longer career, fifteen were active from three to seven years, and the rest (about fifteen) exercised their profession from eight to as long as thirty-five years. 

A sampling of the women involved in printing/publish and a simple listing of the numbers of titles issued under imprints should suffice to show the diversity of their interests and their success in administering very complex businesses. One of the earliest was the widow Trepperel, who, sometimes acting alone other times collaborating with her son-in-law, produced 121 books of romances in the vernacular. 

Between 1522 and 1557, Yolande Bonhomme's business produced over two hundred scholarly and liturgical books, bibles, and books of hours. Most women continued the traditions of firms which they inherited: Charlotte Guillard produced over 160 books on the early Church Fathers and canon and Roman law; Lucrèce Dugué- active from 1593 to the first decades of the seventeenth century- continued the musical production of the Ballard firm; Catherine L'Heritier (mid-sixteenth century) carried on the classics tradition of her husband's firm; the Regnault family concentrated on popular liturgical books in Latin and the vernacular; and Nicole Pleau's firm continued to print the ordinances of the realm, a highly lucrative monopoly originally granted by royal privilege to her husband, Jean Dallier. Marie Lescalloppier, however, changed the direction of her firm from music, which her husband had printed, to religious books and the classics.

As a group women published more than 1,250 titles of the 25,000 estimated to have been published throughout the course of the sixteenth century in Paris. Thus, women as a group, either alone or in partnership, produced approximately five percent of the books in Paris in the sixteenth century, a total not insignificant when one compares it to figures for London for the same period of time. For the whole of the sixteenth century London could count only seventeen women booksellers and printers, and of these only five women actually printed books. In all, these five women brought out a total of eighty-five books, a very much smaller figure than that of their Parisian counterparts."

Beautiful woman in plain lines, Xue Susu, 1598

"A gifted courtesan in an age of talented women, Xue Susu, ca. 1564 ca. 1637, (that is, Xue Wu; her sobriquets include Xuesu, Sujun, Runqing, Qiaoqiao, Wulang, and Runniang) was classed as one of the Eight Famous Courtesans of the Ming. She was known for her paintings of orchids and bamboo, for her poetry, and for her skill at shooting with bow and arrow from horseback; she called herself a "female knight-errant." Sources disagree on the place of Xue's birth, and record it as Suzhou in Jiangsu province or Jiaxing in Zhejiang province. Active in the pleasure quarters along the Qinhuai River in Nanjing, Xue Susu met and befriended many distinguished men of letters.

Dong Qichang (1555-1636), the foremost painter and theorist of painting of the day, held her work in high esteem, writing:

"As for [painting] landscapes, orchids, and bamboo, she lowers her brush swiftly, sweepingly. None [of her paintings] lacks an intention and spirit that approaches the divine."

 Hu Yinglin (1543-1581) added: "What famous painter with skilled hands can surpass her?" The judgment of Dong and Hu is echoed by their contemporary Fan Yunlin (1558-1641) in a colophon attached to her "Flowers," a painting of 1615:

''Later generations have not seen many women who paint as well as Madame Guan . . . . I obtained from a friend an ink-orchid fan by her [Xue Susu]. It was like having obtained a precious jade: to this day I store it away as a treasure."

Orchid, Bamboo, Pine and Plum / Butterflies and Flowers/ Girl playing flute (self-portrait)

I'm the king of the world!

s02e03 | s02e08