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I want to try to speak so both you and I may hear what I say. I speak partly because I remember when I was present at the saddest meeting of this society that I attended. Nina Searl asked to make a personal statement. She said, as I remember, that she had begun to hear a patient's voice. She said that was not analysis. She said she must resign from our society and try to discover what was going on. I am going to tell you a bit of what has been going on with me as I try to make the best of the sometimes sad job of being an analyst.
Thirty-four years ago, many of you graciously said good-bye to me here and wished me luck and good judgment in my venture to plan work in the land of my childhood and youth. There I would have a chance to repair any residues of my homesickness. In London from 1931 to 1954, I had planned to come for a year, and then two, and stayed twenty-four. London became more and more my home, and the most common slip I have made since I left has been to call Montreal, London! Here, to a certain extent, my love matured, my rage grew adult and became more directed, and my mourning became more efficient, and I began to learn to make the best of a sad job.
Before coming here, while here, and since I have left I have read much about and listened to many ways of talking about functions and structures. Many words are used to avoid simple, clear meanings, and many words are used to forget that we were young and could ask questions simply and tell the truth or a lie in short words. Shape and act are short words.