Cruisin' Amazon, I was happy to find out that H.S. Harris' 'Hegel's Development: Toward the Sunlight 1770-1801' (Clarendon Press, 1972) on the young Hegel is available, though at a price with might take some dialectical leaps to transcend. Several years back, before I started shopping online haha, I was on the lookout for a fine copy as well as of the follow-up 'Hegel's Development: Night Thoughts (Jena 1801-1806)' (Clarendon Press, 1983), but to no avail. I thought Harris especially would provide good insights into the development of Hegel's 'Phanomenologie des Geistes.'
I recommend obtaining H.S. Harris' two volume 'Hegel's Ladder' (Hackett Publishing Company, 1997) on 'Phanomenologie des Geistes' itself, which is the most comprehensive study that has appeared. Essential reading for the study of Hegel's philosophy. Its price also takes a li'l Aufhebung, but well worth it.
Also worth getting is his 'Hegel: Phenomenology and System' (1995), which is a primer of sorts.
The first thing I read by H.S. Harris was his introduction for the English translation of Hegel's essay 'The Difference Between Fichte's and Schelling's System of Philosophy' (SUNY Press, 1977). Very good introduction, makes Hegel accessible, and ya learn some good stuff 'bout Kant, Fichte, and Schelling etc 'long the way.
Not related to H.S. Harris, but I also recommend Thomas Pfau ed./Friedrich Holderlin: Essays and Letters on Theory (SUNY Press, 1987), very important for distinguishing Holderlin from Hegel, who he helped and influenced in their youth. Holderlin's thinking is more anarchic, skeptical, and perhaps pursuant of "absolute negativity" more than his friend. Hegel's eventual assertion "The real is the rational, and the rational is the real." even in nonpolitical senses, to Holderlin, would've seemed fraudulent on at least three levels or four, or more ;).
