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Le medianoche amoureux is a collection of short narratives by Michel Tournier that was published in 1989. Being introduced as a collection of "Contes et nouvelles" and being compared with Boccacio's Decameron, Le medianoche amoureux has raised many questions. Some of its traits, however, were not explored: is the Medianoche amoureux a "recueil-ensemble"? If so, can it be classified as a "recueil a recit cadre", just like the Decameron? These are the questions this thesis tries to answer. After the characteristics of the different types of short narratives collections have been established, Le medianoche amoureux is confronted to it. In the same vein, it is compared to short narratives collections belonging to the Decameron 's tradition. This analysis' results do not allow to conclude that Le medianoche amoureux has enough resemblance with the Decameron and other collections of the same type to be included in this tradition. However, some traits that are unique to it, for example the progression from "nouvelles" to "contes" and the interactive structure, suggest that it should be seen as a "recueil a recit cadre" as well as being recognized as original in its construction. Le medianoche amoureux hence opens the way to a new generation of collections. This thesis' "creation" part is trying to construct that type of collection. Le second banquet can be seen as a progression from "nouvelle" to "conte" and it has an interactive structure. One must search the same kind of progression that is found in Le medianoche amoureux and see that the opening and closing texts establish an interactive structure, for the reader will have to reconstruct the context in which the narratives appear.