Hermann August Korff (1882 - 1963), a prominent Germanist and literary historian, summarizes in his most important work, "The Spirit of the Goethe Era - An Attempt at an Ideological Development of Classical-Romantic Literary History," the transition from the 18th to the 19th century as a unified epoch in the German-speaking world, which found its philosophical expression in Hegel and its poetic expression in Goethe. Central theses of this highly regarded and still very readable description include the development of a philosophical ideal of humanity, the reinterpretation of religion into philosophy, and the view of art as a kind of religion, in which the poet appears as the "true human," as a sage whose art is essential for the cultivation of humanity. The first volume presented here is dedicated to the era of "Sturm und Drang." This is a reprint of the original edition.