A hexalogy is a compound literary or narrative work that is made up of six (numerical prefix

Numerical prefix

Number prefixes are prefixes derived from numbers or numerals. In English and other European languages, they are used to coin numerous series of words, such as unicycle – bicycle – tricycle, dyad – triad – decade, biped – quadruped, September – October – November – December, decimal – hexadecimal,...

 hexa-) distinct works, just as a trilogy is made up of three works, and a tetralogy of four. The word apparently first appeared in English as a borrowing from German, in discussions of August Bungert

August Bungert

August Bungert was a German opera composer and poet.-Early life:Bungert was born in Mülheim. His unusual musical talent was noticed and nurtured at high school by his teacher, Heinrich Kufferath, the brother of the composer Ferdinand Kufferath...

's Wagnerian opera cycle entitled Homerische Welt based on the Iliad

Iliad

The Iliad is an epic poem in dactylic hexameters, traditionally attributed to Homer. Set during the Trojan War, the ten-year siege of the city of Troy by a coalition of Greek states, it tells of the battles and events during the weeks of a quarrel between King Agamemnon and the warrior Achilles...

 and the Odyssey

Odyssey

The Odyssey is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is, in part, a sequel to the Iliad, the other work ascribed to Homer. The poem is fundamental to the modern Western canon, and is the second—the Iliad being the first—extant work of Western literature...

. (He planned two tetralogies

Tetralogy

A tetralogy is a compound work that is made up of four distinct works, just as a trilogy is made up of three works....

, but the third and fourth operas of the eight were never written.) Both pentalogie and hexalogie were used by Théophile Gautier

Théophile Gautier

Pierre Jules Théophile Gautier was a French poet, dramatist, novelist, journalist, art critic and literary critic....

 in 1859. In 1923 the word was applied by an American reviewer to Johannes V. Jensen's The Long Journey

The Long Journey

The Long Journey is a series of six novels by Danish author and poet Johannes V. Jensen, written between 1908 and 1922. The books deal with the authors theories on evolution, backdropped against a description of humanity from pre-Ice Age up to the voyage of Christopher Columbus...

.

Examples

Examples of works which have been described as hexalogies are as follows:

Hexalogy	Dates	Author	Medium
Der Biberpelz and Der roter Hahn	1893 – 1901	Gerhart Hauptmann Gerhart Hauptmann Gerhart Hauptmann was a German dramatist and novelist who received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1912.-Life and work:...	two three-act plays
The Long Journey The Long Journey The Long Journey is a series of six novels by Danish author and poet Johannes V. Jensen, written between 1908 and 1922. The books deal with the authors theories on evolution, backdropped against a description of humanity from pre-Ice Age up to the voyage of Christopher Columbus...	1908 – 1922	Johannes V. Jensen	novels
Aus dem bürgerlichen Heldenleben	1911 – 1922	Carl Sternheim Carl Sternheim Carl Sternheim was a German playwright and short story writer. One of the major exponents of German Expressionism, he especially satirized the moral sensibilities of the emerging German middle class during the Wilhelmine period.-Biography:Born in Leipzig to a Jewish banker and his Protestant wife...	plays
Fortunes of War	1960 – 1980	Olivia Manning Olivia Manning Olivia Mary Manning CBE was a British novelist, poet, writer and reviewer. Her fiction and non-fiction, frequently detailing journeys and personal odysseys, were principally set in England, Ireland, Europe and the Middle East. She often wrote from her personal experience, though her books also...	novels