Thomas Mann's Lotte en Weimar is the story of one of Goethe's old romantic interests, a real historical figure by the name of Charlotte Kestner, who has come to Weimar to see him again after more than 40 years of separation. Goethe had romanced Charlotte when they were young, but she had already been engaged (and then married) to another man whom she truly loved. Ultimately, the romance ended unconsummated; afterwards, Goethe wrote a fictional depiction of these events, with some artistic changes, and published it under the title The Sorrows of Young Werther. The real Charlotte became inadvertantly and unwillingly famous, and remained so for the rest of her life to a certain degree. Her return in some ways is due to her need to settle the wrongs done to her by Goethe in his creation of Werther; one of the underlying motifs in the story is the question of what sacrifices both a genius and the people around him/her must make to promote his/her creations.