Heptalogy

Heptalogy is a rarely used term[1] for a series of seven creative works that are connected by a common storyline.[2] One recent famous example is the Harry Potter series of books.[3] The term is sometimes found in the nonce form septology,[4] or in the form septet.[5]

Heptalogy Dates Author
The Cycle of Life[6] Edward Maryon
In Search of Lost Time[7] 1913–1927 Marcel Proust
The Chronicles of Narnia[8] 1949–1954 C. S. Lewis
Le Livre des questions (The Book of Questions)[9] 1963–1973 (1976–1984 in English) Edmond Jabès
Narratives of Empire[10] 1967–2000 Gore Vidal
Licht[11] 1977–2003 Karlheinz Stockhausen
Tomorrow series[12] 1993–1999 John Marsden
Harry Potter[3] 1997–2007 J. K. Rowling
Planned heptalogy Dates Author
Luther[13] 1613–1630 Martin Rinkart
Eugene Gant[14] 1935–1941 Thomas Wolfe
The Ages of Man[15] 1956 Thornton Wilder
The Children of Kronos[16] 1987–1991 Alexandros Kotzias
Heptalogía de Hieronymus Bosch[17] 1997-2006 Rafael Spregelburd
A Song of Ice and Fire[18] 1996–???? George R. R. Martin

References

  1. ^ Galadriel Waters, Astre Mithrandir (2004). Ultimate Unofficial Guide to the Mysteries of Harry Potter: Analysis of Books 1-4. p. xviii. "("hepta = seven in Greek), but there is very little precedence for its use (and it doesn't appear in any dictionaries)" 
  2. ^ "77 things about the #7". The Canberra Times: p. A6. January 2, 2007. "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." 
  3. ^ a b
  4. ^ Interview with Scott Lynch in SFX June 18, 2007, about his planned seven-part series.
  5. ^ Michael Ward, Planet Narnia. The Seven Heavens in the Imagination of C. S. Lewis. Oxford University Press, 2008. ISBN 9780195313871. passim.
  6. ^
    • "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 ...." 
  7. ^ 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." 
  8. ^
    • 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."" 
  9. ^ 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.
  10. ^ 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...." 
  11. ^
  12. ^ School Library Association of New Zealand Aotearoa Newsletter 11, December 2003, p. 9. ISSN 1175-5555. [1].
  13. ^ Albert Freybe (1911). "Rinckart (Rinkart), Martin". In Samuel Macauley Jackson. The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge. 10. Funk & Wagnalls Company. pp. 41. http://books.google.com/books?id=7el4esMpCT4C&pg=PA41. Retrieved 2008-02-09. "A third drama, the Indulgentiarius confusus, was written..., forming the third part of the author's intended heptalogy on Luther." 
  14. ^ 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...." 
  15. ^ "Short List". The Village Voice. May 18, 1999. "Thornton Wilder left this heptalogy of one-acts unfinished at his death in 1975" 
  16. ^ 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"" 
  17. ^
  18. ^ "New ‘Game of Thrones’ Trailer; Exclusive Preview on April 3rd". Screen Rant. March 7, 2011. http://screenrant.com/game-thrones-trailer-preview-hbo-benk-104508/. Retrieved 2011-08-08.  |

See also