"The Function of Dream Sleep" is a fantasy short story by American writer Harlan Ellison, first published in his 1988 anthology Angry Candy. Ellison stated that it was inspired by an actual dream.[1]
While grieving the deaths of several of his close friends, McGrath awakens from sleep to find that he is being bitten by an enormous mouth full of teeth; it then vanishes, leaving him with a profound sensation of loss. In seeking to understand what has happened, he discovers a hidden truth about the world.
The story won the 1989 Locus Award for Best Novelette,[2] and was a finalist for the 1989 Hugo Award for Best Novelette[3] and the 1988 Bram Stoker Award for Best Long Fiction.[4]
Kirkus Reviews has described it as "Ellison aptly dramatizing his own emotional catharsis."[5] Gary K. Wolfe and Ellen Weil have criticized the story both for the central premise — stating that the mouth (which they call "bizarre" and "surreal") does not represent "McGrath's pain and loss but his refusal or inability to process mature grief" — and for its structure, which they consider to be parallel to "any number of science fiction wish-fulfillment fantasies involving secret masters", and thus "inappropriate for a tale of suffering".[6]