Although both the real and fictional letters by Karoline von Günderrode in Bettina von Arnim’s Die Günderode (1840) suggest that epistolary exchange is tantamount to successful communication, in Günderrode’s correspondence, we can see how the possibility – or impossibility – of close communication and mutual understanding is a constant theme, and increasingly becomes a problem. In the early letters within the family, closeness is predominantly portrayed without such critical reflection. Letters between Günderrode and her younger sister Charlotte serve to strengthen their bond. In her correspondence with the Brentano family, Günderrode engages with the question of whether it is possible to express individual thoughts and feelings. Communication becomes a game and indeed a central part of the letters between the Heidelberg professor Friedrich Creuzer and Günderrode: the letters are partly written in code and transliterated into the Greek alphabet.