Encyclopedia of Fantasy (1997)
Story Cycle

Tagged: Theme.

A group of tales addressing a central theme or Matter, and/or told within a shared over-narrative, usually in the shape of a Frame Story. So understood, the term has very nearly the same meaning as that ascribed to the term Cycle (sense 1), and is here used mainly to emphasize that the cycle being referred to has been written down as a series of narrative tales meant to be understood as fiction. [JC]