A tetralogy (from Greek τετρα- tetra-, "four" and -λογία -logia, "discourse") is a compound work that is made up of four distinct works. The name comes from the Attic theater, in which a tetralogy was a group of three tragedies followed by a satyr play, all by one author, to be played in one sitting at the Dionysia as part of a competition.[1]

Examples

Literature

  • Tetrateuch is a sometime name for the first four books of the Bible.[2] The Tetrateuch plus Deuteronomy are collectively referred to as the Pentateuch.
  • Tintitives by Antiphon of Rhamnus; the author was an orator, and Tintitives is a kind of textbook for students. Each book consists of four speeches: the prosecutor's opening speech, the first speech for the defense, the prosecutor's reply, and the defendant's conclusion. Three of his tetralogies are known to have survived.[3]
  • The traditional arrangement of the works of Plato into nine tetralogies, including some doubtful works, and the letters as a single work.
  • The Henriad, two tetralogies of history plays of William Shakespeare. The First Tetralogy in order of composition begins with the three Henry VI plays. The Second Tetralogy finishes with the history of Henry V.

Modern

Tetralogy Entries
Siegfried
(1876)
Last Post
(1928)
The Axe
(1925)
The Snake Pit
(1925)
In the Wilderness
(1926)
The Son Avenger
(1927)
The Stories of Jacob
(1933)
Young Joseph
(1934)
Joseph in Egypt
(1936)
Joseph the Provider
(1943)
Justine
(1957)
Balthazar
(1958)
Clea
(1960)
The Space Odyssey series
Footsteps
(1985)
The Hannibal Lecter series
Hannibal
(1999)
The Giver
(1993)
Messenger
(2004)
Son
(2012)

Films

Video games

Tetralogy Entries
Contra series
Contra
(1987)
Contra 4
(2007)
Pikmin series
Pikmin
(2001)
Pikmin 2
(2004)
Pikmin 3
(2013)
Pikmin 4
(2023)
Saints Row series

Other information

In the early modern period of literature, Shakespeare drafted a pair of tetralogies, the first consisting of the three Henry VI plays and Richard III, and the second, what we now call a prequel because it is set earlier, consisting of Richard II, the two Henry IV plays, and Henry V.[6]

As an alternative to "tetralogy", "quartet" is sometimes used, particularly for series of four books. The term "quadrilogy", using the Latin prefix quadri- instead of the Greek, and first recorded in 1865,[7] has also been used for marketing the Alien movies.

See also

Look up tetralogy in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

References

  1. ↑ Rush Rehm. Greek Tragic Theater. Routledge, 1994, p. 16.
  2. ↑ Petersen, David L. (1995). "The Formation of the Pentateuch". In Mays, James Luther; Petersen, David; Richards, Kent H. (eds.). Old Testament Interpretation: Past, Present And Future. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 36. ISBN 9780567476906.
  3. ↑ C. M. Bowra. Landmarks in Greek Literature, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1966, pp. 236–7.
  4. ↑ Newman, Jenny; Friel, James (2003). "An interview with A. S. Byatt". Cercles. Retrieved 11 September 2010. I have always had a romantic idea that the writer or the artist was, as Coleridge and Virginia Woolf said, androgynous. The whole of The Virgin in the Garden quartet is about the desirability of an androgynous mind... JN & JF: I notice that the quartet which begins with The Virgin in the Garden is sometimes called The Frederica Quartet. ASB: My paperback publisher, you will be glad to hear, is going to make it a boxed set, and it's just going to be called The Quartet. It isn't Frederica's book--though she's the sort of person who would muscle in and try to take it!
  5. ↑ Star Trek 4 potential release date, cast and everything you need to know
  6. ↑ Victor L. Cahn. Shakespeare the playwright: a companion to the complete tragedies, histories, comedies, and romances. Greenwood, 1991.
  7. ↑ Simpson, J.A., and Weiner, E.S.C. (eds.) The Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd ed. 1989. Oxford. Clarendon Press. "quadri-"
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