Dr. Brenner's “The Mind as Conflict and Compromise Formation” was presented as part of a special program at the December 18, 1992, meeting of the American Psychoanalytic Association. A new presentation format was used on that occasion. The entire afternoon was devoted to the consideration of this contribution. Only a paper richly deserving wide attention and scrupulous discussion could qualify to serve as the focus for this special format, and it would be impossible to find a contributor more qualified for this task than Dr. Charles Brenner. For at least a generation, Dr. Brenner has been a major figure in psychoanalysis, an author whose writings have challenged and deepened our understanding of psychoanalysis. In addition to having been President of the American Psychoanalytic Association and of the New York Psychoanalytic Society, he stands out most clearly as an innovator and a teacher. His writings are characterized by clarity of thought and economy of words. Reviewing the roster of