Thomas Mann an Mrs. George T. Paterson

Beantwortet Mrs. P.’s Frage, warum er über Charlotte Kestner in ›Lotte in Weimar‹ schrieb: »The book tells the story of the meeting late in life in Weimar of Goethe with the original of the Lotte of his poem ›The sorrows of Werther‹. This lady really lived and bore the name of Frau Charlotte Kestner. Naturally, therefore, I took no liberty with history, but wrote about her under her real name.«