its name was Penelope by Judy Malloy

its name was Penelope (Eastgate, 1993; BASIC version, 1990; exhibition version 1989) is a collection of randomly generated memories in which Anne, a photographer, recollects the details of her life.

Called one of the classic works of the golden age of literary hypertext by Robert Coover its name was Penelope invites the reader to explore Anne's life -- from "Dawn", the Homeric sunrise, the time of childhood; to the details of the narrator's photography-based artwork in "Fine Work and Wide Across"; to the troubles related in "Rock and Hard Place"; to a concluding "Song". The best known version of this work is the 1993 Storyspace look and feel Eastgate version. The 2020 scholar's version (which you are now reading) uses JavaScript in an HTML/CSS environment to recreate the original BASIC version. More information about its name was Penelope is available at https://people.well.com/user/jmalloy/statement.html

Within each file, choose where you want to go in the story at the "reading prompt" which is usually a variation on:

dawn or SEA or song or stop

In the original BASIC version, the choice had to be typed in at a live prompt. Although this version is very close to the BASIC version, the prompt defers to the web-expected click.

When you select SEA, you are given the choice of clicking any one of four files. Each of these files begins with a quote from The ODYSSEY. After the quote displays, you will see the reading prompt. Click its name to read memories at random from the file you are in, or click SEA to return to the AT SEA menu. When it is offered, you can also click song to enter the sequential exit file called SONG, or click stop to end the story, or click help to see this help screen.

Dawn, the childhood file, is only available when the work begins.

To begin again, click run

Turn on your sound, to hear a translation of the vintage sound that began the BASIC version. This integrates the sound with the audio, but if you cannot activate autoplay on your system and would like to hear the sound, click here to play it with a click.