# Sinn und Form

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{{Short description|Bimonthly literary and cultural magazine in Berlin, Germany}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2024}}
{{Infobox magazine
| logo               = Logo sinn und form.gif
| image_file         = Literaturzeitschrift Sinn und Form 1974.jpg
| image_size         = 
| image_caption      = Cover page dated 1974
| editor             = Matthias Weichelt
| editor_title       = Editor-in-chief
| previous_editor    = 
| frequency          = Bimonthly
| circulation        = 
| category           = {{ubl|Literary magazine |Cultural magazine}}
| company            = 
| founder            = {{ubl|[Johannes R. Becher](/source/Johannes_R._Becher) | Paul Wiegler}} 
| publisher          = Akademie der Künste
| firstdate          = 1949
| country            = [Germany](/source/Germany)
| based              = [Berlin](/source/Berlin)
| language           = [German](/source/German_language)
| website            = {{URL|https://sinn-und-form.de/}}
| issn               = 	0037-5756 
| oclc               = 1371069324
}}
'''''Sinn und Form''''' ({{langx|de|Sense and Form}}) is a bimonthly literary and cultural magazine. It was launched in [East Berlin](/source/East_Berlin), [East Germany](/source/East_Germany), in 1949 and is still in circulation. The magazine describes itself as one of the definitive cultural journals in Germany.<ref name=matt>{{cite journal|author=Matthew Philpotts|title=Through Thick and Thin: On the Typology and Agency of Literary Journals
|journal=The International Journal of the Book|year=2010|volume=7|issue=4|pages=57,61|doi=10.18848/1447-9516/CGP/v07i04/36838}}</ref> 

==History and profile==
The magazine was established by [Johannes R. Becher](/source/Johannes_R._Becher) and Paul Wiegler in 1949.<ref name=adk/><ref name=auto>{{cite web|title=Sinn und Form|url=https://www.autorenwelt.de/organisation/sinn-und-form|publisher=Autorenwelt|access-date=10 October 2021|language=de}}</ref> The original title was ''Maß und Wert'' (German: ''Measure and Value'').<ref>{{cite news|title=Schilderungen als Revolte|work=Deutschlandfunk|date=31 January 2018|url=https://www.deutschlandfunk.de/literaturzeitschrift-sinn-und-form-schilderungen-als-revolte.700.de.html?dram:article_id=409674|access-date=10 October 2021|language=de}}</ref> When it was published in the East Germany, the magazine was employed by the ruling party, [Socialist Unity Party](/source/Socialist_Unity_Party_of_Germany), as a media outlet for its cultural policy.<ref name=dasbun>{{cite web|title=Die Literaturzeitschrift "Sinn und Form"|url=https://www.stasi-unterlagen-archiv.de/informationen-zur-stasi/publikationen/publikation/die-literaturzeitschrift-sinn-und-form/|publisher=Das Bundesarchiv|language=de}}</ref> However, the magazine was not enthusiastic about this relationship.<ref name=dasbun/> Because since its start it has had a unique style which is apolitical.<ref name=auto/> It covers articles on poetry and philosophy, anthropology and theology and the relations between art and science.<ref name=auto/> It provides essays, poems, stories, diaries, letters and conversations on these topics.<ref name=auto/>

In 1975 a novel by [Volker Braun](/source/Volker_Braun) entitled ''Unvollendete Geschicht'' was published in the magazine, but the novel was not published as a book in East Germany and appeared as a print book only in 1998.<ref>{{cite thesis|author=Diana Alberghini|title=Helga konigsdorf's evolving identities: an eastern german author's responses to an era of personal and political upheaval (1978-1998)|location=University of Bath|page=12|id={{ProQuest|301568923}}|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/301568923|isbn=9781073266982|degree=PhD|year=2000}}</ref>

''Sinn und Form'' is published by the Akademie der Künste in Berlin on a bimonthly basis.<ref name=adk>{{cite web|title=Sinn und Form Beiträge zur Literatur|url=https://www.adk.de/de/akademie/publikationen/sinn-und-form.htm|publisher=Akademie der Künste|language=de}}</ref> The magazine has been the subject of the scholarly analysis, and at least two books were published about the magazine.<ref name=tages/><ref>{{cite book
|author1=Stephen Parker|author2=Matthew Philpotts|title="Sinn und Form". The Anatomy of a Literary Journal|year=2009|publisher=Walter de Gruyter
|location=Berlin; New York|isbn=978-3110217858|url=https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110217865|doi=10.1515/9783110217865}}</ref>

===Editors and contributors===
The [editors-in-chief](/source/editors-in-chief) of the magazine include the following:<ref name=profil>{{cite magazine|title=Profil|url=https://sinn-und-form.de/?kat_id=1|access-date=10 October 2021|magazine=Sinn und Form}}</ref>

* [Peter Huchel](/source/Peter_Huchel) (1949–1962)
* [Bodo Uhse](/source/Bodo_Uhse) (1963)
* Wilhelm Girnus (1964–1981)
* [Paul Wiens](/source/Paul_Wiens) (1982)
* [Max Walter Schulz](/source/Max_Walter_Schulz) (1983–1990)
* Sebastian Kleinschmidt (1991–2013)
*  Matthias Weichelt (2013–)

Notable contributors of ''Sinn und Form'' are [Miguel Ángel Asturias](/source/Miguel_%C3%81ngel_Asturias), [Imre Kertész](/source/Imre_Kert%C3%A9sz), [Halldór Laxness](/source/Halld%C3%B3r_Laxness), [Czeslaw Milosz](/source/Czeslaw_Milosz), [Pablo Neruda](/source/Pablo_Neruda), [Romain Rolland](/source/Romain_Rolland), [Jürgen Habermas](/source/J%C3%BCrgen_Habermas), [Nelly Sachs](/source/Nelly_Sachs), [Heiner Müller](/source/Heiner_M%C3%BCller), [Ernst Jünger](/source/Ernst_J%C3%BCnger), [Hilde Domin](/source/Hilde_Domin), [Volker Braun](/source/Volker_Braun), [Peter Härtling](/source/Peter_H%C3%A4rtling), [Durs Grünbein](/source/Durs_Gr%C3%BCnbein), and [Jürgen Becker](/source/J%C3%BCrgen_Becker_(poet)).<ref name=matt/><ref>{{cite journal|author=Barbara F.H. Allen
|title=German studies: journals and magazines|doi=10.1108/01604950110388699|journal=Collection Building|year=2001|volume=20|issue=2|pages=54–73}}</ref> During the editorship of Peter Huchel the magazine featured the work by German and international non-Communist writers, and unpublished works by [Bertolt Brecht](/source/Bertolt_Brecht) were published in two special issues of the magazine.<ref>{{cite journal|author1=Michael Hamburger|author2=Marin Sorescu|author3=Peter Huchel|title=Notes on Marin Sorescu (Romania) and Peter Huchel (East Germany)|journal=The Crane Bag|year=1983|volume=7
|issue=1|page=53|jstor=30060545}}</ref> [Robert Havemann](/source/Robert_Havemann), chemist and later dissident, published articles in the magazine criticizing modern socialism and [revisionist](/source/Revisionism_(Marxism)) works of the Western authors.<ref>{{cite book|author=A. James McAdams|title=East Germany and Detente. Building Authority after the Wall|publisher=[Cambridge University Press](/source/Cambridge_University_Press)|year=1985|isbn=978-0-521-26835-6|doi=10.1017/cbo9780511521874
|page=44|location=Cambridge}}</ref>

The founding editor-in-chief Peter Huchel was forced by the East German authorities to resign from the post.<ref name=tages>{{cite news
|author=Gregor Dotzauer|title=Vom Bestellen des Feldes|access-date=10 October 2021|url=https://www.tagesspiegel.de/kultur/70-jahre-zeitschrift-sinn-und-form-vom-bestellen-des-feldes/23831524.html|work=[Der Tagesspiegel](/source/Der_Tagesspiegel)|date=8 January 2019|language=de}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Official website|https://sinn-und-form.de/}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sinn und Form}} 
Category:1949 establishments in East Germany
Category:Bi-monthly magazines published in Germany
Category:Cultural magazines published in Germany
Category:Former state media
Category:Magazines published in East Germany
Category:German-language magazines
Category:Literary magazines published in Germany
Category:Magazines established in 1949
Category:Magazines published in Berlin

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Sinn und Form](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinn_und_Form) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinn_und_Form?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.