Philipp Lammer's project describes how French cultural imperialism promoted the export of a specific form of tragedy, as it established the classicist model of theater in the European courts. Neoclassical tragedy in France first developed in the 17th century as a representational form of absolutism whose dissemination served to stabilize and align court culture according to the classicist model of form. By the 18th century, French tragedy had come to be seen as the European norm. The export of this aesthetic model was supported by editions and translations, and through institutions such as academies and their agents. Yet conversely, the model of tragedy provided emerging national communities with a form that could be employed across the continent, and the ensuing promotion of national tragedies ultimately triggered a Europe-wide competition concerning the best formal practice in the genre. As sets of general rules were disseminated through pan-European circulation, various local and national initiatives emerged, each insisting on versions of the tragic form that were specific to their respective contexts. The attempt to define a universal tragic form thus eventually led to its diversification.