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The permissibility of novels whose protagonists relate to an actual person—paradigmatic cases are ‘Mephisto’ and ‘Esra’—is highly contested in both the media and the judiciary. From a fundamental rights perspective, the main problem is the balance between the freedom of art and the general personality rights of those people who are as the novels’ protagonists. This project does not aim to provide another dogmatic analysis of these cases, but instead adopts a meta-perspective. Unfortunately, there is insufficient literary analysis of novels in legal academia and practice in general. In particular, this is represented by their adherence to the traditional legal quotation system and the lack of cooperation between the two disciplines. Thus, this dissertation argues for a mandatory consideration of literary references, if a novel’s permissibility is subject to a judicial process, and for greater interdisciplinary cooperation.