The Parody Of Bridget Jones' Diary To Pride And Prejudice From The Perspective Of Intertextuality

Helen Fielding is one of the most popular female novelists in Britain. She has ever been a journalist, editor and columnist. Bridget Jones'Diary, one of her best works, is loved by the readers all over the world. This novel is also enlisted in the One Hundred Favorite Books by British. However, so many readers detect the parodying relationship between Bridget Jones'Diary and the canonic work Pride and Prejudice which was written by Jane Austen.Based on Helen Fielding's Bridget Jones'Diary and under the theory of parody of Genette from the intertextuality perspective, my dissertation analyzes and explains the multi-dimensional parody between the hypo text and hypertext.In Introduction, I briefly introduce the life and works of Helen Fielding and the inspiration of creating Bridget Jones's Diary and the content. Meanwhile I also illustrate the major points that I will analyze in the paper. By cutting into the theory parody from the perspective of intertextuality, this dissertation explains the success of Bridget Jones'Diary from a column story to a bestseller.In Chapter One, firstly I introduce the theory foundation—intertexruality which can be traced back from Saussure to Bakhtin. Based on the theory concluded by Julia Kristeva, I analyze the parodying relationship between the hypo text and the hypertext. Then I point out the basic methods of parody used in my dissertation.Chapter Two is the main part of my dissertation. I thoroughly discuss the parodying relationship between Helen Fielding's Bridget Jones'Diary and the canonic work Pride and Prejudice from three aspects. First, I discuss the character parody of the hypertext, then the plot parody and finally the thematic parody. The imitating of male protagonist and the subversive female protagonist particularly embodies the special features of parody. Meanwhile the opening party and the rescue scene give hints to readers and remind them of the classical hypo text. Thematically, alongside the discussion of the parodying of the canonic pride and prejudice, I analyze the parody of finding true love and Cinderella theme.In Chapter Three, based on the penetrating reading of the two novels, I focus on the language features which are used in the hypo text and hypertext. Compared with Pride and Prejudice, the humorous and irony language used in Bridget Jones'Diary is much better. At the same time, I point out another prominent feature of the hypertext which contributes a lot to the success. The recreational writing style is unique to the readers. Diary fiction attracts the eyes of so many people. Last but not the least, I distinguish chick-lit fiction from romance novel and briefly analyze the remarkable function of friends in the hypertext which is another special charm.The final part summarizes and concludes this thesis.