The ruins of the La Colle Falls Hydro Dam encompass two very distinct topographies: the physical landscape of the vast Canadian Northwest, and the complex emotional terrain of the urban mythology of the city of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. In 1912 the city embarked on the ambitious project, building a dam and shipping lock on the North Saskatchewan River to supply the city with cheap and plentiful hydroelectric power and create a navigable inland shipping route from Winnipeg to Edmonton. The people of the community believed that it was poised to become a new commercial centre of the west, a key manufacturing and industrial metropolis. Instead, the project became an enormous and ruinous financial debacle that embarrassed the residents and crippled the urban growth of the city for nearly a century. Its failure, and the consequent suffering it brought permeate local legend to this day. The solution to this negative residual memory exists in the hydro dam’s own genesis: the spiritual and functional significance of the North Saskatchewan River as a site of traditional Aboriginal healing and a crucial regional amenity. Unable to bridle the waters of the North Saskatchewan, the dam instead comprises a dramatic visual testimony to the effects of an enormous work of construction on the panoramic Saskatchewan landscape, and an ideal setting to address the interface of man, structure, and the human body in the natural world. This thesis uses the ruins of the dam as a physical armature on which to construct a spa complex, an architectural insertion that will complete the dam, and present a positive alternative ending to its story. The spa is viewed as a place of intimate physical contact and remedial personal reflection that acknowledges the dramatic landscapes surrounding it, engages the senses, and simultaneously heals the bodies of the patrons while reconciling the latent negative historical memory of the original hydro dam project.

This essay examines The Myth of Sisyphus (1942), The Plague (1947), and The Rebel (1951). I have chosen these three works in an effort to triangulate Camus' intellectual development, his persistent interest in literature, and the historical background against which these take place. Sisyphus and The Rebel are Camus' two major philosophical essays. The former belongs to Camus' "First Cycle" of writing, in which he focused on the concept of "the Absurd"; the latter belongs to Camus' "Second Cycle", in which he focused on the theme of "revolt." Camus wrote The Myth of Sisyphus during the Nazi occupation of Paris, an event which he witnessed and experienced and which also served as the inspiration for his novel The Plague. Though the two books are connected by this event, thematically The Plague belongs to Camus' Second Cycle. For this reason, it serves as an illuminating work, demonstrating the importance of fiction to Camus' intellectual process and his particular way of thinking. From Sisyphus to The Rebel, Camus' argument for fiction comes down to the opportunity it offers to describe life rather than explain it. In his opinion, the best novelists exhibit the very philosophy that should generally govern human behavior. These novelists limit themselves to what they can be sure of – namely, their personal experiences; they patiently explore what it is like to live on this earth – how human beings deal with each other, manage their environments, and cope with the often tremendous complexities of life. Not co-incidentally, Camus' fiction took special interest in death of all kinds – from murder to sickness to suicide – in order to remind his readers that life is finite. According to Camus, writing fiction is a way to keep the reader conscious of the human condition, because good fiction plainly exhibits life as it is and death as our common fate. By reflecting on good literature, readers may form their own life ethic.

The ruins of the La Colle Falls Hydro Dam encompass two very distinct topographies: the physical landscape of the vast Canadian Northwest, and the complex emotional terrain of the urban mythology of the city of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. In 1912 the city embarked on the ambitious project, building a dam and shipping lock on the North Saskatchewan River to supply the city with cheap and plentiful hydroelectric power and create a navigable inland shipping route from Winnipeg to Edmonton. The people of the community believed that it was poised to become a new commercial centre of the west, a key manufacturing and industrial metropolis. Instead, the project became an enormous and ruinous financial debacle that embarrassed the residents and crippled the urban growth of the city for nearly a century. Its failure, and the consequent suffering it brought permeate local legend to this day. The solution to this negative residual memory exists in the hydro dam’s own genesis: the spiritual and functional significance of the North Saskatchewan River as a site of traditional Aboriginal healing and a crucial regional amenity. Unable to bridle the waters of the North Saskatchewan, the dam instead comprises a dramatic visual testimony to the effects of an enormous work of construction on the panoramic Saskatchewan landscape, and an ideal setting to address the interface of man, structure, and the human body in the natural world. This thesis uses the ruins of the dam as a physical armature on which to construct a spa complex, an architectural insertion that will complete the dam, and present a positive alternative ending to its story. The spa is viewed as a place of intimate physical contact and remedial personal reflection that acknowledges the dramatic landscapes surrounding it, engages the senses, and simultaneously heals the bodies of the patrons while reconciling the latent negative historical memory of the original hydro dam project.

Texte remanié de: Diss.--Regensburg, 1997. / Bibliogr. p. 144-167.

Texte remanié de: Thèse de doctorat--Archéologie--Paris 4, 2000. / En appendice, choix de documents. Bibliogr. vol. 2, p. 573-612. Notes bibliogr. Glossaire et index à la fin du vol. 2.

Texte remanié de: Dissertation--Universität Tübingen, 2003. / Bibliogr. p. 361-385.

Reproduction de : Thèse de doctorat : Lettres : Paris 12 : 2006. / Thèse en texte intégral accessible depuis l'Intranet de Paris 12. Titre provenant de l'écran-titre.

Thesis--University of Michigan. / Includes bibliographical references (vol. 1, leaves 408-421).

Zugl.: Leipzig, Univ., Diss., 2008

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Queensland, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references.