character, seems always to be engaged in reexamining its own conduct, a process that
contributes to the reader's skepticism about the truth of any single utterance by
its protagonists. Here, in an epitome of this structural idiosyncrasy, we are told
that Victor, after recounting his biography and then rewriting those parts of it he
felt Walton had not succeeded in capturing in the manner in which he wanted them represented
(III:Walton:4), has rethought the terms of his entire narrative and has revised it
once more. That last revision, however, we will never read: the synopsis here presented
does, however, differ in salient ways from the account we have been asked to accept
as the truth.