Sense and form
| Sense and form - contributions to literature | |
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| description | German literary magazine |
| publishing company | Academy of Arts, Berlin |
| First edition | 1949 |
| Frequency of publication | bi-monthly |
| Sold edition | 3000 copies |
| ( [1] ) | |
| Editor-in-chief | Matthias Weichelt |
| editor | Academy of Arts |
| Web link | https://sinn-und-form.de |
| ISSN (print) | 0037-5756 |
Sinn und Form is abimonthly journal for literature and culturepublishedin Berlin by the Akademie der Künste . During the time of the GDR , it was of particular importance as it was considered relatively liberal. In addition to literature, the philosophical and political essay as well as discussions with important authors, artists and philosophersoccupy an important part of this journal.
history
The magazine was founded in 1949 in the Soviet occupation zone by Johannes R. Becher and Paul Wiegler . The first editor-in-chief was Peter Huchel (1949–1962). He was followed by Bodo Uhse (1963), Wilhelm Girnus (1964–1981), Paul Wiens (1982) and Max Walter Schulz (1983–1990). Sebastian Kleinschmidt has been editor-in-chief since 1991 . Matthias Weichelt, who has been working in the editorial department of the magazine since 2006, took over this position in September 2013 .
The magazine was originally supposed to be called “Maß und Wert” after the exile magazine founded by Thomas Mann , but not for long. However, Mann did not release the title. It is unclear whether it was then named after the publication Form and Sense, which the Austrian painter and author Wolfgang Paalen conceived in exile in Mexico, who was close friends with one of the first authors in Sinn und Form, Gustav Regulator . Johannes R. Becher conceived the magazine on the one hand as a communication organ for intellectuals, on the other hand as a cultural figurehead of the later GDR to the outside world. Nevertheless, the magazine was not a party organ and also printed texts by young authors who otherwise found no possibility of publication in the GDR. As an organ of the Academy of Sciences, the journal, unlike many other media, was not subject to prior censorship.
However, some critics are of the opinion that the relative liberality of the paper during the GDR era was primarily aimed at its outward impact. Dieter Noll , who turned down the offer to become editor-in-chief in 1981, assessed this strategy as follows:
“You have to see this sheet as a representative sheet of the academy, where you turn a blind eye here and there if you have written something in the magazine that was not politically correct. This seemed pleasantly liberal abroad and was an expression of a non-repressive cultural policy. It is important to us that we make this impression. "
Former editor-in-chief Sebastian Kleinschmidt states that Sinn und Form have always found a stronger echo in West Germany than in the East. A part of the edition was sent to the West for free during the GDR era.
The magazine was under constant surveillance, but was not censored. Following the appearance of unpleasant articles, some editors were threatened with litigation. In mid-1988, following the publication of a text critical of Stalinism that Becher had already written in 1957, a ban on the magazine was up for discussion. In the 1950s, Sinn und Form was already heavily politically criticized, directed primarily against the editor-in-chief Peter Huchel. However, Huchel had an influential advocate in Bertolt Brecht . After his death in 1962 he was forced to resign.
literature
- Matthias Braun: The literary magazine Sinn und Form . An unloved figurehead of SED cultural policy. 2004. ISBN 978-3-86108-398-6 .
- Armin Zeißler : My companions. A quarter of a century at SINN UND FORM . 2004. ISBN 978-3-936735-81-9 .
- Stephen Parker , Matthew Philpotts, Sense and Form . The Anatomy of a Literary Journal. 2009. ISBN 978-3-11-021785-8 .
- Matthias Weichelt: Peter Huchel . Deutscher Kunstverlag , Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-422-07458-3 (biography of the founding editor of Sinn und Form )
- Hub Nijssen: The secret king. Life and work of Peter Huchel, Nijmegen 1995, ISBN 90-90-08539-4 . Extended edition Würzburg 1998, ISBN 3-8260-1466-9 . Open access: via https://repository.ubn.ru.nl/handle/2066/146017 and mmubn000001_206620837.pdf
Web links
- official homepage
- Michael Braun: The unfinished story of the mind: fifty years of meaning and form. An era is visited. In: the Friday of July 30th, 1999
- Sebastian Kleinschmidt: Sixty Years of Meaning and Form (excerpt). In: Sinn und Form № 2/2010, pp. 273–279
- Editing of the “Sinn und Form” archive in the archive of the Academy of Arts, Berlin
Individual evidence
- ^ Wolfgang Paalen, Form and Sense, New York (Wittenborn) 1945, reprint, New York (Arcade Publishing) 2013 with a foreword by Martica Sawin
- ↑ Sebastian Kleinschmidt in conversation with Basil Kerski , seen on August 11, 2009
- ↑ The opinion of IM 'Georg' on the question of the extent to which the source feels able to exercise the function of editor-in-chief of the magazine 'Sinn und Form'. BStU, ZA, AGMS 5323/85, Vol. I / 1, Bl. 70 f. (Quoted from: Joachim Walther: Security area literature . Berlin 1996, p. 817)
- ↑ Sebastian Kleinschmidt in conversation with Basil Kerski , seen on August 11, 2009