Zugl.: Mainz, Univ., Diss., 2008

published_or_final_version / Architecture / Master / Master of Architecture

No description available.

In South African cities, the subdivision of the social world and spaces which the public inhabits tends to manifest and reflect itself in the leisure choices that the public makes. It has been proven that leisure choices and experiences affect an individual's mental state and experience and in addition, they superimpose a long lasting structure onto human societies. Contemporary inner city housing developments are infested with antisocial challenges which are in the form of delinquency, alcohol abuse and drug trafficking. If such challenges go by unchecked, it may lead to a totally deteriorated society and environment. The aim of this dissertation is to explore the possibility of facilitating social and economic upliftment amongst inner city youth through provision of adequate and appropriate leisure facilities and spaces. From a planning and an architectural approach, the intention is to reveal how architecture may be used to alleviate the social ills that have infested the residential inner city. It is believed that architecture and the built environment should play a role in correcting, improving and echoing the ethics and values of its users such that there is a mutual harmony and coexistence. / Thesis (M.Arch.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2006.

This essay is a study of the portrayal of the theme of alienation in Eugene Ionesco's novel The hermit. In my study I examine the different ways in which the theme of alienation is portrayed and how the cause of the narrator's experience of alienation can be found in ideological, psychological and existential conflicts that the narrator has to face. The result is an experience of das unheimliche, a Freudian concept, which is a kind of uncanny detachment that the narrator experiences, when he is put up against an invisible force that lurks in the perifery of the world, which is portrayed in the story. The meaning of the ideological conflict is a portrayal of man's situation in a world that is ruled by capitalism, with marxism as a positive leveler and the meaning of the psychological conflict is a conflict in the narrator's own inner reality. The meaning of the existential conflict is a portrayal of man's situation in a world absent of God. The novel by Ionesco points at these conflicts and also offers a solution to the limitations, that are caused by alienation by transcending them. In my study I focus on the function of language, biblical imagery, allegory and the theories that are being used to define the ideological (marxist theory) and existential (Albert Camus' theory of the absurd) conflicts. In my analysis I have also used Camus' The stranger in comparison with Ionesco's novel.

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The rationale for this study is Albert Speer's unique value as a source of information concerning the Third Reich and Adolf Hitler. Although there is a wealth of information available on Nazi Germany and Hitler, the observations of this intelligent man who was an important official of the regime and a close associate of Hitler himself carry weight that no other report can match. He was a well-educated, intellectual, and articulate man who left behind three comprehensive books and many articles and interviews. In addition to such publications, there are, in the National Archives in Washington, D.C., many records of interviews with Speer conducted by Allied personnel immediately following the war. Those documents have been used extensively in this study.There is no attempt either to indict or to vindicate Speer, as many authors have done, but rather the purpose is to present in narrative form an analytical study of the relationship between the two men. The central focus throughout examines Speer and Hitler in juxtaposition and forms conclusions on the nature of their complex and compelling attachment. In the process, historical events form the backdrop as Speer describes them for us. It is always Speer, not Hitler, with whom the primary interest lies.The question of how anyone of Speer's background and intelligence could have given his life to a regime devoted to gutter politics, conquest of a continent, and genocide always arises in any study of Speer. The strange hold the Nazis exert on the world's imagination seems to ebb and flow, but does not die out, nor does the awful suspicion that something similar could happen again. Speer used his writings to describe the process and warn against its resurrection, especially in light of the tremendous leap in technology we have seen. Do not look for monsters, he counseled, for monsters are easily identified and avoided. Beware the manipulators who orchestrate on a national scale those policies which bring harm to whole populations, men who loudly proclaim their humanness and ordinariness.This inquiry is not an attempt to prove a predetermined hypothesis, since it embodies a historical approach rather than an experimental one. Information is drawn from the books and papers of Speer, as well as official documents, but secondary works to corroborate the basic sources are cited at times. There is still no definitive biography of Speer, although he appears as a central figure in many works. Perhaps one of the reasons for this is that the Speer family has put his personal papers in Heidelberg beyond the reach of anyone until 1999, probably as a result of his negative treatment in various publications.The technical papers from the Ministry of Armaments and War Production are housed in the Bundesarchiv at Koblenz, but were not pertinent to this study. The Institut fur Zeitgeschichte in Munich houses official papers, as does the Berlin Document Center, while the Washington has the transcripts of Library of Congress in Hitler's Table Talks, some parts of which are used in this study. Speer's books and published material give an extensive look at his part in the Third Reich, his relationship with Hitler, and his own feelings and observations concerning both. The International Military Tribunal records from Nuremberg are both extensive and enlightening. One may also view the collection of Heinrich Hoffmann, Hitler's personal photographer, in the Special Collections section at Bracken Library.Chapter I deals with Speer in the pre-war years as he rose to fame and became part of Hitler's inner circle, while Chapter II views the war years through Speer's experiences. In Chapter III the early relationship between Speer and Hitler is developed, and in Chapter IV the war, the collapse of the Third Reich, and the attendant disasters are covered.

Le Nord a souvent inspiré des artistes de différentes disciplines (par exemple, en littérature, notamment au Canada français). Au fil des années, dans le milieu franco-ontarien, nombreux sont les chansonniers, les poètes et les romanciers qui ont nourri leur plume de cet imaginaire. Toutefois, est-ce que le Nord, dans des œuvres poétiques écrites à partir des années 1980, aurait encore la place qu’il occupait en poésie durant les années 1970 en Ontario français? C’est la présence de cette thématique dans les chansons, les poèmes et les romans franco-ontariens, écrits depuis la période d’effervescence culturelle en Ontario français, qui a attiré notre attention. Nous avons remarqué, dans la production poétique de poètes du nord de l’Ontario, qui y ont vécu ou qui l’ont traversé, que l’espace septentrional alimentait l’imaginaire collectif de plusieurs créateurs. Dans le cadre de notre thèse de maîtrise, nous avons analysé le thème polymorphe du Nord dans deux recueils de poésie franco-ontarienne contemporaine, soit dans Décalage de Patrice Desbiens et dans L’espace éclaté de Pierre Albert. Pour ce faire, nous avons eu recours à la « critique thématique » telle que définie par Gaston Bachelard et Jean-Pierre Richard, ainsi qu’à une grille d’analyse inspirée, entre autres, des recherches du chercheur, professeur et spécialiste du Nord, Daniel Chartier, du géographe du Nord canadien, Louis- Edmond Hamelin, et des spécialistes de la littérature franco-ontarienne, Fernand Dorais, François Paré et Johanne Melançon.

This study carries out both a technical and a thematic analysis of the novels by Albert Camus, L&amp / #8217 / Etranger, La Peste, and La Chute, and Samuel Beckett, Molloy, Malone Dies, and The Unnamable. In the technical analysis of the novels, the study explores the differences in characterization and narrative technique. It argues that the differences in these two issues mainly emerge from the difference in the two authors&amp / #8217 / views of art. In the thematic analysis, on the other hand, the study focuses on the recurring themes in the two authors&amp / #8217 / novels. It argues that Camus and Beckett explore similar themes in their novels because both writers belong to the absurd tradition. In other words, although their notions of art are different, their views of the human condition are quite similar, which is reflected in the common themes they explore in their novels.