Helen Fielding was born in 1959 in a small industrial town of Morley, Yorkshire, England. Her father was a director of the local textile factory; mother was at home bringing up Helen and her three siblings.
She has studied journalism at Oxford University and then she was working in television at the BBC for ten years. During this time she has made a documentary film about Africa. Her personal experiences from Africa she has written down in her first novel Cause Celeb (1994).
On February 28th 1995, a new column by the writer Helen Fielding first appeared in British paper, the Independent. There was little fanfare at the time, but over the coming months, The Diary of Bridget Jones went on to develop an unprecedented cult following. Eventually, of course, the column was turned into her second novel- worldwide bestseller Bridget Jones’s Diary (1996). As well successful is the sequel of this novel with the title Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reasons (1999). In this time Helen Fielding lives in London and Los Angeles and still works as a journalist for plenty of magazines.

“I don’t drink or smoke, and I am a virgin, so there is nothing of me in Bridget… yeah right!”
-Helen Fielding-

The novel Bridget Jones’s Diary is divided into twelve episodes by each single month of the year. It also contains Bridget’s New Year’s Resolutions at the beginning of the book and the summary of the past year in the end of the book.
Each day, which is depicted in the diary, starts with a summing, what includes facts such as how many units of alcohol did Bridget that particular day drink, how many cigarettes did she have, her actual weight, how many calories did she eat or many other specific information about her outdated day. “Nedeľa 26. februára:
57 kg, 5 pohárikov alkoholu (utápam žiaľ), 23 cigariet (vyymím žiaľ), 3856 kalórií (dusím žiaľ pod tuovou perinou).”

Bridget Jones’s Diary is the diary of unmarried woman in her thirties, who troubles about overweight, career and emotional extortion from men. It tells a story about one year of her life, during which she has found true love, left her old job and set up in a better one.
Bridget’s family and family-friends reminded her, that she is on the best way to die alone. Her mother wanted to meet her with a potential partner in every single occasion.

“Najbližšie to prišlo ako blesk z jasného neba: “Pamätáš si Marka Darcyho, zlatko? Syna Malcolma a Elaine? Je špičkový právnik, prvotriedny. A rozvedený.

Elaine vraví, že je v kuse zahrabaný v práci a strašne sám. Možno sa zjaví na tej novoročnej morke na karí.”
Nechápem, prečo mi nepovedala rovno z mosta do prosta: “Počúvaj, zlatko, buď taká dobrá a vyspi sa s tým Markom Darcym na novoročnej party. Je veľmi bohatý.””

This is why Bridget “adored” parties and feasts by her parents, but on the other hand also she wished she had formed a functional relationship with a responsible adult, and not just fall for any of the following: charming alcoholics, workaholics, flirtomans, people with girlfriends or wives, misogynists, megalomaniacs, chauvinists, emotional fuckwits, parasites or perverts (one of her resolutions). Firstly it seemed she could have quite interesting relationship with her colleague from work- Daniel, but as later came out he didn’t think of their liaison seriously at all. So she ended up with him. Her second attempt was Mark. When she saw him for the first time in her parent’s house, she thought he is such a namby-pamby. “Zvrtol sa a zo zdanlivo neškodného tmavomodrého svetra sa vykľulo véčko s kosoštvorcovým žlto-modrým vzorom- obľúbené u staršej generácie športových reportérov. Ako vravieva môj priateľ Tom, je až zarážajúce, koľko času a peňazí by sa ušetrilo, keby sa hneď pri prvom rande všímali detaily. Tu biele ponožky, tam červené traky, galoše na topánky, hákový kríž, a človeku je jasné, že nemá význam zapisovať si telefónne čísla a finančne sa ruinovať v drahých reštauráciach, pretože z toho aj tak nič nebude.”

““A keď sme sa prvý raz stretli, mal som oblečený ten otrasný pulover, ponožky s čmeliakmi od tety a správal som sa ako absolútny cvok. Myslel som si, že ty si myslíš, že som najnemožnejší suchár na svete.”
“No, vlastne som si to tak trochu aj myslela,” pripustila som.”

Then she met him again several times and it came to light that he is pretty sympathetic fellow. After her mother, who left Bridget’s dad for some Latin type, who was a kind of criminal, started to have serious problems with justice, the situation was beyond Bridget’s strength. At that point came Mark who helped her to solve the plight and she knew that the end of the year would be better than she hoped.

“Keď sme vyšli na poschodie, ukázalo sa, že Mark objednal apartmán.

Bol fantastický, super-hyper a poriadne sme sa tam vybláznili, lebo sme vyskúšali všetky atrakcie pre hostí, objednali si na izbu šampus a on mi rozprávala ako sa do mňa zamiloval.”

Some of the most important characters in the novel:

Bridget Jones
- For me really kind, pleasant and a bit sarcastic person from the first time.
- Drinks, smokes and thinks (mostly about men, herself and men, her life without men…) a lot. However she is giving up smoking and reducing drinking alcohol the whole year she knows better than anyone else that it is more than impossible. - She is very inventive and creative with fabulous sense of humour and hits.
- She has been dogged by luck and she is something like magnet for breaks.

Daniel Cleave
- First (failed) boyfriend of Bridget.
- Self-confident, sometimes quite rude young man who is enough cocksure.
- Affects like womaniser, maybe he is indeed.

Mark Darcy
- Bridget’s boyfriend.
- Lawyer from high society but not snobbish.
- Intelligent, decent and polite gentleman.

Tom
- Bridget’s good friend. If she has a problem he is ready with a wise advice for her. Always knows what to say.
- He is a gay.

Shazzer
- Another Bridget’s friend with slightly feministic opinions.
- Uses dirty language enough.

Mrs Jones
- Bridget’s mother, who wants her to marry.
- Adventurous person that is always trying something new, but sometimes forgets that she has her age and she should behave adequately to it.

Bridget Jones’s Diary became a nationwide phenomenon both in the United States as well as in Helen Fielding’s native England. The novel was a leader of list of best selling books in England for several months and in 1997 it obtained the British Book Award. As a consequence of triumph of Fielding’s novel, she has written the screenplay for the film version of Bridget Jones’s Diary, which was produced by the Four Weddings and a Funeral team. The film adaptation, where are acting stars like Renee Zellweger, Hugh Grant, Colin Firth and many others was successful the same like original book version. Renee Zellweger, who has played the part of main character- Bridget Jones, was for her excellent performance nominated for Academy Award (Oscar).

	Tento článok bol vytlačený zo stránky https://referaty.centrum.sk

Helen Fielding Bridget Jones's Diary