Goethe to Hauptmann. The important periods of German literature from 1770 to 1895 : Classicism, Romanticism, Realism, and Naturalism. A selection is made from works by such authors as Goethe, Schiller, Novalis, Heine, Nietzsche, Fontane, and Hauptmann. Reading and discussion of these works provides an insight into some of the major historical, social, and aesthetic problems of the late 18th and 19th centures.