Tetralogy 817392 223304629 2008-07-03T14:00:15Z LarRan 4795501 /* Literary works */ {{for|the congenital heart condition|Tetralogy of Fallot}} A '''tetralogy''' is a compound work that is made up of four ([[numerical prefix]] ''[[Wiktionary:tetra-|tetra-]]'') distinct works. The name comes from the [[Attica|Attic]] [[theater]], where tetralogies were meant to be played in one sitting at the [[Dionysia]]. In more recent times, [[Shakespeare]] wrote two tetralogies, the first consisting of the three ''[[Henry VI]]'' plays and ''[[Richard III (play)|Richard III]]'', and the second consisting of ''[[Richard II (play)|Richard II]]'', the two ''[[Henry IV, part 1|Henry IV]]'' plays, and ''[[Henry V (play)|Henry V]]''. Richard Wagner's "Der Ring der Nibelungen" - the 'Ring Cycle' - is also referred to as a tetralogy. The word "tetralogy" is not commonly used in the marketing of collections of works. The term "quadrilogy" has also been used, basing the prefix on [[Latin language|Latin]] prefix [[Numerical prefix|quadri-]] instead of the Greek prefix. The musical term "quartet" is also used, as well as "legacy." The ''[[Alien (film series)|Alien]]'' and ''[[Batman (film series)|Batman]]'' series, each consisting of four films, have been released in collections titled ''The Alien Legacy'' and ''The Batman Legacy''. The ''Alien'' and ''[[Die Hard]]'' series have also been released in sets under the title ''The [[Alien Quadrilogy]]'' and ''The Die Hard Quadrilogy''. ==Famous tetralogies== ===Literary works=== In literature, the term Tetralogy has also been applied to [[novel]]s, [[Play (theatre)|plays]], and [[poetry]], such as: *[[A. S. Byatt]]'s ''Frederica'' ''Quartet'' ([[The Virgin in the Garden]],[[Still Life]],[[Babel Tower]] and [[A Whistling Woman]]) * [[Lawrence Durrell]]'s ''[[Alexandria Quartet]]'' * [[Maggie Furey]]’s ''[[The Artefacts of Power|Artefacts of Power]]'' * [[Gene Wolfe]]'s ''[[Book of the New Sun]]'' and ''[[Book of the Long Sun]]'' * [[Jonathan Bayliss]]'s ''[[Gloucesterman]]'' * [[Thomas Harris]]'s [[Hannibal Lecter]] quartet * [[Terry Brooks]]'s [[The Heritage of Shannara]] quartet * [[Yaşar Kemal]]'s ''[[İnce Memed tetralogy|İnce Memed]]'' * [[Christopher Paolini]]'s ''[[Inheritance Cycle]]'' * [[Henry de Montherlant]]'s ''[[Les Jeunes Filles]]'' * [[Thomas Mann]]'s ''[[Joseph and His Brothers]]'' * [[T. H. White]]'s ''[[The Once and Future King]]'' * [[Ford Madox Ford]]'s ''[[Parade's End]]'' * [[John Updike]]'s ''Rabbit series ([[Rabbit, Run]]; [[Rabbit Redux]]; [[Rabbit is Rich]], [[Rabbit at Rest]]) * [[Paul Scott]]'s ''[[Raj Quartet]]'' * [[William Shakespeare]]'s sequence of history plays: ''[[Richard II (play)|Richard II]], [[1 Henry IV]], [[2 Henry IV]], [[Henry V (play)|Henry V]]'' * [[Claude Royet-Journoud]]'s ''Le Renversement'', ''La Notion d'Obstacle'', ''Les Objects contiennent l'infini'', and ''Les Natures indivisibles'' (poetry published between 1972 and 1997) * [[Yukio Mishima]]'s ''[[The Sea of Fertility]]'' * [[E. E. Smith]]'s ''[[Skylark (series)|Skylark]]'' series * [[Harry Turtledove]]'s ''[[Settling Accounts (Harry Turtledove)|Settling Accounts]]'' * [[Tamora Pierce]]'s ''[[The Song of the Lioness]]'' * [[Sergei Lukyanenko]]'s ''[[Night Watch (Russian novel)|Watch]]'' series * [[S. M. Stirling]]'s ''[[Emberverse]]'' series ([[Dies the Fire]], [[The Protector's War]], [[A Meeting at Corvallis]]) ===Movies=== {{main|List of film tetralogies}} * ''[[Alien Quadrilogy]]'' * ''[[Die Hard series|Die Hard]]'' * ''[[Indiana Jones franchise]]'' * ''[[Jaws (film)|Jaws]]'' * ''[[The Karate Kid]]'' * ''[[Lethal Weapon]]'' * ''[[Saw (film series)|Saw]]'' * ''[[Rambo]]'' * ''[[Rebuild of Evangelion]]'' * ''[[Scary Movie]]'' ===Music=== * [[Richard Wagner]]'s ''[[Der Ring des Nibelungen]]'', a series of four epic [[music drama]]s. * [[Coheed and Cambria]]'s ''[[The Amory Wars]]'' concept albums. * [[Thrice]]'s ''[[The Alchemy Index Vols. I & II]]'' and ''[[The Alchemy Index Vols. III & IV]]'' ===Video games=== * ''[[.hack//Games]]'' * ''[[Grand Theft Auto (series)|Grand Theft Auto]]'' (although, in theory, the series has more than four games, albeit only four 'numbered' games) * [[Metal Gear Solid (series)]] * ''[[Monkey Island]]'' * [[Devil May Cry (series)]] * [[Metroid (series)]] The original Metroid series, not the Prime Sub [[Trilogy]] or the spinoffs ===Historical works=== *''[[A History of the English-Speaking Peoples]]'' by [[Winston Churchill]]. A series of four novels is also called a [[quartet]]. The [[20th Century Fox]] marketing team coined the nonstandard synonym "quadrilogy" for the release of their [[Alien (movie)|Alien]] DVD box set ''The [[Alien Quadrilogy]]'' and the ''[[Die Hard]]'' DVD box set ''The Die Hard Quadrilogy''. This uses the Latin numerical prefix quadri-/quadr-, instead of the usual Greek tetra-, with the Greek -logy. ==See also== {{wiktionary|Tetralogy}} * [[Sequel]] * [[Duology]] * [[Trilogy]] * [[Heptalogy]] [[Category:Narrative forms]] [[Category:Series of books]] [[bg:Тетралогия]] [[cs:Tetralogie]] [[da:Tetralogi]] [[de:Tetralogie]] [[fr:Tétralogie]] [[it:Tetralogia]] [[ja:四部作]] [[nl:Tetralogie]] [[no:Tetralogi]] [[pl:Tetralogia]] [[ru:Тетралогия]] [[sv:Tetralogi]]