Are there any stories without main characters? Is it even possible to write a story like that?
There are several novels that have a succession of main characters. (The works of James Michener come to mind- a character will be the focus for one 10 page segment, then he’s dead and another one takes over).
Twain’s Two Views of the River comes close, unless you count the River as the main character.
I don’t know of any stories like this, but the 1991 movie Slacker has no characters who are in more than about five or ten minutes of the film. It consists of a series of unrelated incidents (during one 24-hour period in Austin, Texas) where each sequence begins by one person from the last sequence walking away and coming to the next sequence. No character is in more than two sequences.
Robert Altman’s movies are such broad tapestries and have so many characters…
Nashville (1975) has 24, and I would hesitate to call any of them the ‘main.’ No one is the star, no one anchors the film, no one is the hero, no one is the villain, and by the end heck if you can remember who has the most scenes or dialogue :).
But in a good way.