I began to read Psychoanalytic Conversations two weeks after Stephen Mitchell's sudden and untimely death. So, when I found Mitchell's name among the ten interviews in this book, it was an unexpected surprise. I initially intended to read the book from beginning to end, but I instantly turned to the Mitchell interview. Although it had taken place in 1998, I had the uncanny thought (and wish) that Mitchell were returning to give some final word, to sum things up, to say some last goodbye. I was in search of a farewell from a man whom I knew only