This book contains love correspondences between Otto von Bismarck, Adalbert Stifter, Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, Ernst Haeckel and their respective wives and lovers. It counters the transient nature of love by extending the correspondence to other areas: realism – constituting much more than just a literary and artistic program – is here presented as a project undertaken by these 19th-century couples with the aim of facilitating their lives and keeping alive the romantic impulse.