as nearly as possible

NOTES

as nearly as possible

We will later discover (III:WC:4) that it was not "nearly" enough for Victor, who proceeds to rewrite Walton's narrative. But, then again, it could very well be his own narrative that he so conscientiously revises. Whatever the particular case is immaterial: what matters is the fact of emendation. Mary Shelley's deliberate accentuation of the unreliability of her text will recur at crucial points throughout the novel.