Galatea a Literary work

"Galatea" is a piece of interactive fiction by Emily Short.  This piece of fiction takes place at an art exhibition, where you, the critic, finds yourself having a conversation with the sculpture Galatea. The story begins with only a brief introduction to the statue and from this point determining the rest of the narration and plot is up to you based the commands you input into the program.  As in all IF games the reader plays a pivotal role in the determining what happens next. If you the reader and main character chooses to ask Galatea about her creator and his unfortunate suicide you may end up upsetting her or instead the reader can hug Galatea and feel her fine hair.  Whatever the decisions you the reader and participate make guide the story.  But what is most important in the game of "Galatea" is that there is great literary prose occurring after each user command.  The writer of this story has created a beautiful dialogue as is seen in more traditional pieces of literature, all the while weaving a beautiful and tragic story of a somewhat saddened statue of marble who has awoken to the world. 

"Galatea[’s]" story is a complex one which weaves together the technology of a command based narrative with the more common literary use of metaphors.  The conversations between the user and Galatea is a perfect parallel to the interactive fiction itself.  Just as the critic is able to communicate with art, so to does Galatea allow you the user to communicate with this piece of written art.