Harvey's Dream
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox short story
| name = Harvey's Dream
| title_orig =
| author = Stephen King
| country = United States
| language = English
| series =
| genre = Horror
| published_in = The New Yorker,
Just After Sunset
| publication_type =
| publisher =
| media_type =
| pub_date = June 2003 (first publication)
| preceded_by = The Gingerbread Girl
| followed_by = Rest Stop
}}
"Harvey's Dream" is a short story written by Stephen King, originally published in The New Yorker in June 2003{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.newyorker.com/archive/2003/06/30/030630fi_fiction?currentPage=all|title = Harvey's Dream| magazine=The New Yorker |date = 23 June 2003}} and later included in King's short story collection Just After Sunset in 2008.
Plot
Harvey and Janet, a middle-aged married couple in a dysfunctional relationship, discuss over breakfast how Harvey woke up screaming from a dream he had: one of their daughters was killed by a truck. Janet soon realizes how the details of the dream are unerringly accurate for that morning, especially in noticing how their neighbor's car has a dent in it, along with what looks like a blood stain and a dark patch of hair. The story ends when Harvey answers a phone call, as he did in his dream, presumably confirming Janet's mounting fears that the events of the dream are true.
Critical reception
In The Independent, Matt Thorne reviews the book Just After Sunset, in which "Harvey's Dream" can be found. He mentions "Harvey's Dream" as being one of the weaker stories in the collection (along with "Graduation Afternoon"), stating that "in both of these stories, which seem to have been written quickly, [King] seems less interested in creating compelling fiction than in transcribing his night terrors."{{cite news | url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/just-after-sunset-by-stephen-king-997457.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220509/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/just-after-sunset-by-stephen-king-997457.html |archive-date=2022-05-09 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live | work=The Independent | title=Just After Sunset, By Stephen King: These scary stories are strangely reassuring | date=November 9, 2008 | author=Matt Thorne |accessdate=April 20, 2009}}
In The Washington Times, Christian Toto, also reviewing Just After Sunset, says that ""Harvey's Dream" lasts less than 10 pages, but Mr. King needs only a few paragraphs to evoke a wholly relatable nightmare — being stuck in an emotionless marriage."{{cite news | url=http://washingtontimes.com/news/2008/nov/16/stephen-king-in-short-still-has-it/print/ | publisher=The Washington Times | title=Books: Stephen King in short, still has it | author=Christian Toto | date=November 16, 2008| accessdate= April 20, 2009}}
A review of Just After Sunset in the St. Petersburg Times calls "Harvey's Dream" "a quietly alarming little story",{{cite news | url=http://www.tampabay.com/features/books/article933969.ece | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081218061730/http://www.tampabay.com/features/books/article933969.ece | url-status=dead | archive-date=December 18, 2008 | publisher= St. Petersburg Times| title=Review: In Stephen King's 'Just After Sunset,' and the 'N.' online adaptation, fine nightmares by day | date=December 14, 2008 | author=Colette Bancroft}} one in Scotland on Sunday calls it "unusually polished" and "quietly eloquent"{{cite news | url=http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/sos-review/Book-Review-No-rest-.4673871.jp | publisher=Scotland on Sunday | title=Book Review: Stephen King | date= November 9, 2008 |author=Janet Maslin}} and one in the Concord Monitor says the story is "a parent's worst nightmare, viewed in slow motion."{{cite news | url=http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081123/ENTERTAINMENT01/811230307 | publisher=Concord Monitor | title=Stephen King's best at twilight, not in darkness: Short story collection unsettling, harrowing | date=November 23, 2008 | author=Ted Anthony | url-status=dead | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303183207/http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20081123%2FENTERTAINMENT01%2F811230307 | archivedate=March 3, 2016 }}
See also
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [https://stephenking.com/works/short/harveys-dream.html "Harvey's Dream" at StephenKing.com]
- {{ISFDB title|id=869219|short=yes}}
{{JustAfterSunset}}
{{Stephen King}}
Category:Short stories by Stephen King
Category:Works originally published in The New Yorker
Category:Short stories about dreams
{{2000s-horror-story-stub}}