Two of the most important epistolary novels in German literature, Johann Wolfgang Goethe's "Die Leiden des jungen Werther" and Friedrich Hölderlin's "Hyperion", are analysed with reference to an aspect, which determines the problematic nature of narrative and description and thus illustrates a basic linguistic problem facing the author of epistolary novels. The (epistolary) novel is here seen as a paradigm of written narrative, which for this reason also gives an immediate and graphic example of a linguistic or narrative problem, the causes of which, together with some suggested solutions, are discussed in the article.