My effort here is to tiy to clarify some of the historical and also political bases for the ways “relational” and “interpersonal” intersect and overlap and how they diverge, and some of the issues involved. I describe also how I locate my own conception of working at the “intimate edge” in historical context in this framework, and why I believe that a recognition of the intersubjective nature of the analytic field requires a radical reconceptualization of how we think about the analytic process, the data of analysis, the analyst's role in the process, and the nature of therapeutic action.