Heptalogy

Not to be confused with hepatology.

A heptalogy (/hɛpˈtælədʒi/; from Greek ἑπτα- hepta-, "seven" and -λογία -logia, "discourse") is a compound literary or narrative work that is made up of seven distinct works.^[1] While not in wide usage, it has been used to describe such examples as the Harry Potter series of books,^[2] and The Chronicles of Narnia.^[3]

Collection of the Harry Potter book series, an example of a heptalogy

Examples

Heptalogy	Dates	Author
The Cycle of Life[4]	1914	Edward Maryon
In Search of Lost Time[5]	1913–1927	Marcel Proust
The Chronicles of Narnia[6]	1949–1954	C. S. Lewis
Le Livre des questions (The Book of Questions)[7]	1963–1973 (1976–1984 in English)	Edmond Jabès
Narratives of Empire[8]	1967–2000	Gore Vidal
Licht[9]	1977–2003	Karlheinz Stockhausen
Harry Potter[2]	1997–2007	J. K. Rowling

Planned heptalogy	Dates	Author
Luther[10]	1613–1630	Martin Rinkart
Eugene Gant[11]	1935–1941	Thomas Wolfe
The Ages of Man[12]	1956	Thornton Wilder
The Children of Kronos[13]	1987–1991	Alexandros Kotzias
Heptalogía de Hieronymus Bosch[14]	1997–2006	Rafael Spregelburd
A Song of Ice and Fire[15]	1996–20??	George R. R. Martin

See also

• Trilogy
• Tetralogy
• List of feature film series with seven entries

References

1. "77 things about the #7". The Canberra Times. January 2, 2007. p. A6. A series of seven works of art is called a heptalogy. In the case of films, Harry Potter and The Chronicles of Narnia (both to be completed), are examples.
2. • Robert McCrum (July 22, 2007). "The Hallows, and then the goodbyes: Tolkien it isn't, but J K Rowling's latest marks a triumphant literary achievement". The Observer. p. 17. The completion of this world-shaking heptalogy is something close to a triumph.
   • "Rowling tops revenue list". The Bookseller. January 25, 2008. Archived from the original on January 28, 2008. Retrieved 2008-02-09.
3. Christopher, Joe R. (2015). "C. S. Lewis's Problem with 'The Franklin's Tale'". In Khoddam, Salwa; Hall, Mark R.; Fisher, Jason (eds.). C.S. Lewis and the Inklings: Reflections on Faith, Imagination and Modern Technology. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Press. p. 128. ISBN 9781443882965. Lewis had a secret structure to the Narnian heptalogy
4. • "Section 3". Musical News and Herald. 46: 610. January–June 1914. So he has written his heptalogy, the titles of the dramas being "Lucifer", "Cain", "Magdalen", "Krishna", "Christos", "Psyche", and "Nirvana". The title of the whole is The Cycle of Life...
   • "Edward Maryon". The Musical Times. 95 (1333): 152. March 1954. ... his magnum opus being 'The Cycle of Life', a heptalogy ...
5. Michael Wright (January 2, 2000). "The Marcel wave". The Times. The pressure to read Proust is felt in different ways. Sir Richard Eyre ... confesses that he was shamed into reading the mighty heptalogy by Alan Bennett.
6. • Alan Farrell (2007). High Cheekbones, Pouty Lips, Tight Jeans. p. 227. ...while Lewis confected a heptalogy ... about the fictitious and snow-shrouded land of Narnia...
   • Michael Ward. Planet Narnia. The Seven Heavens in the Imagination of C.S. Lewis. p. 13. Charles Wrong ... reports Lewis as adding, "I had to write three volumes, of course, or seven, or nine. Those are the magic numbers."
7. Walter Stauss, review of Warren F. Motte jr., Questioning Edmond Jabès (1990), in Rocky Mountain Review of Language and Literature 46:1/2 (1992), p. 99.
8. Fred Inglis (November 4, 2000). "News as history: history as fiction". Financial Times Books. p. 5. This is the final volume of Vidal's astonishing heptalogy, Narratives of Empire...
9. • Juan María Solare (July 2000). "Face to face with Stockhausen". Tempo. 2 (213): 20–22. doi:10.1017/s0040298200007828. ISSN 0040-2982. JSTOR 946542. S2CID 143443072. The heptalogy LICHT (Light) is a cycle of seven operas...
   • Ivanka Stoianova; Jerome Kohl (Winter 1999). "And Dasein becomes music: some glimpses of Light". Perspectives of New Music. 37 (1): 179–212. doi:10.2307/833631. JSTOR 833631. Since 1977, the year which marks the beginning of the composition of the heptalogy Licht...
10. Albert Freybe (1911). "Rinckart (Rinkart), Martin". In Samuel Macauley Jackson (ed.). The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge. Vol. 10. Funk & Wagnalls Company. p. 41. Retrieved 2008-02-09. A third drama, the Indulgentiarius confusus, was written..., forming the third part of the author's intended heptalogy on Luther.
11. Willard Thorp (1960). American Writing in the Twentieth Century. Harvard University Press. p. 174. Here was stuff, not for a naturalistic trilogy but for a heptalogy! In the four novels which stand complete and in the fragment of a fifth (The Hills Beyond, 1941), Wolfe took one hero, Eugene Gant...
12. "Short List". The Village Voice. May 18, 1999. Thornton Wilder left this heptalogy of one-acts unfinished at his death in 1975
13. Michael Moschos (September 25, 1992). "Obituary: Alexandros Kotzias". The Independent Gazette. p. 31. He completed four in this projected "heptalogy" under the general title "The Children of Kronos"
14. • James Woodall (February 16, 2004). "F.I.N.D. Schaubühne, Berlin". Financial Times Arts. p. 8. Argentine Rafael Spregelburd's Stupidity, the fourth in The Hieronymus Bosch Heptalogy series, is a sprawling farce...
    • "Casa awards start the literary party in Cuba". Cuba Headlines. January 12, 2008. Retrieved 2008-02-09.
15. "New Game of Thrones Trailer; Exclusive Preview on April 3rd". Screen Rant. March 7, 2011. Retrieved 2011-08-08. |