who traversed this route in 1814 and published it in her History of a Six Weeks' Tour
just before Frankenstein. At that time the point of departure for the Shelley party
was Basel.
Yet, that we lack Clerval's journal might in context seem strange. The entire novel
is based on the presence of an overload of documentary information that includes the
letters of Alphonse Frankenstein and Elizabeth Lavenza, the journal letter of Robert
Walton, his representation of Victor's narrative (dutifully "corrected" by Victor),
which in turn contains the Creature's narrative, which is, in part, attested to by
the letters of Felix that the Creature promised to leave with Victor when he finished.
If we lack this last piece of evidence, however, we do not lack its effect on the
narrative, since Victor here calls attention to the nature and quality of Clerval's
writing.