• 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.