This article offers less an answer to the critical propositions by Raphaël Baroni in “L’Empire de la narratologie, ses défis et ses faiblesses” (The Empire of Narratology, its Challenges and Weaknesses) than an attempt to reframe the current debate on narratology in a different context. Firstly, the article suggests returning to the golden age of structuralism, which was also characterized by a ruthless rejection of all things narrative. Secondly, it suggests a new reading of the tension between general narratology and applied narratology, in order to plead for a “pure” theory of narratology as well as a redefinition of the forms of narratology as “toolkit” and the issues it has to deal with.