  In this paper we study multiserial and special multiserial algebras. These
algebras are a natural generalization of biserial and special biserial algebras
to algebras of wild representation type. We define a module to be multiserial
if its radical is the sum of uniserial modules whose pairwise intersection is
either 0 or a simple module. We show that all finitely generated modules over a
special multiserial algebra are multiserial. In particular, this implies that,
in analogy to special biserial algebras being biserial, special multiserial
algebras are multiserial. We then show that the class of symmetric special
multiserial algebras coincides with the class of Brauer configuration algebras,
where the latter are a generalization of Brauer graph algebras. We end by
showing that any symmetric algebra with radical cube zero is special
multiserial and so, in particular, it is a Brauer configuration algebra.
