ABSTRACT
Sandra Belloni or Emilia in England is one of Meredith's best novels and there is justification enough in attempting to present its, somewhat neglected, quality. It is true of Meredith's fiction generally, as it is of Beauchamp's Career, that we aren't often there: we get versions of the event rather than the event itself. And the question of direct presentation is itself a version of the choice between 'delicate' and 'epical' fiction. Meredith had a real interest in Italian life and politics. For one primary and irresistible reaction to Emilia in Italy is that it illustrates Meredith's case as a writer and a man, a case clarified by the perspective of Emilia in England. The analysis of English society in Emilia in England provides a way of reading Emilia in Italy. They are both English novels as well as being both Italian novels.
