This latest work centers on characters seeking clean slates, trying to break free from substance abuse or toxic relationships, only to witness hope devolve into violence. Kraus frequently uses the phrase "new beginning", making it deliberately jaded through constant reiteration. Examples include "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They opted for a clean break" are scattered across the story. And yet, Kraus herself appears to be undertaking her own fresh start, since this seems a novel form of writing – observational, genuinely novelistic. Yet it turns out to be laden with the same dilemmas and styles as her previous works.
From Accidental Writer to Cult Classic
Chris Kraus was originally an visual artist who entered the literary world unintentionally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, made up of letters to an unreceptive lover, elevating intimate women's literature from abjection into defiance. She kept producing books, but the three subsequent engaging and challenging novels missed the impact and rawness that the correspondence format imparted to the tone of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her role as a renegade artist who had evolved into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was much discussion on property transactions. It follows that she presently aims to experiment with fresh narrative sources, looking outwards to other people's stories, at a time when she asserts that current political era turns intimate literature unnecessary.
Three Generations, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, spanning multiple eras – none able to break free from their histories. The book includes the narrative about Emma and Jasper, based on the author's parents, transitioning from the New York borough to the Connecticut countryside. Then there is the account of Kraus, in the guise of Catt Greene, reckoning with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse Paul. And there is the account of a killing of one lost young man by another in a town largely deserted by liberal ideals only 80 miles from Catt's cottage in a remote part of Minnesota.
As a reader fond of refined literature of the sort the author herself typically rejects, I was seduced by the narrative style of the opening part.
As someone who reads drawn to honed writing of the variety that Kraus usually avoids, I was captivated by the storytelling approach of the first section. There is a novel degree of detail that accommodates small details, like the pail that the young Catt pries out of frozen water at the opening of the book, helped by her beloved father. "I found an ice toy!" she declares; "a lovely toy", he responds, "the elliptical meanings of words tumbling in their mouths like sweet treats". The author narrates Emma's story with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not hers, exactly."
Frustration and Disruption
I was bound to become frustrated when I wished this new voice could last out the book. The author states here that she resents the satisfaction audiences such as myself have taken from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disjunction, to the unpolished style she shares with her hero author Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her past books reasserts itself in the middle section. Catt Greene is trying to renovate multiple decrepit residences in the city's most challenging districts while shuttling between Minnesota and LA, unsuccessful in assisting Paul control his drinking. She feels helpless as Paul moves between underfunded jobs as an recovery specialist in a society driven by the rage and anxiety that underpins a political win. There are several pages about Catt being cancelled on a platform, her listed profession modified from "author" to "real estate holder" on a reference site. She still gives the impression to invest excessive emotion about this. At one point she remarks that she's looking into the killing so that before exiting the region, "she might be able to learn something about an the nation that her social media opponents would fail to comprehend, would overlook entirely".
The Murder Narrative
So then we come to the homicide in question – and the referenced day spent by the murdered individual with the killer and his friends. Kraus utilizes compelling foundational content, and knows hour by hour what transpired when a man named Brandon came to see Brittney after connecting via an application where she marketed explicit images. He anticipated intimacy but appears congenially to have passed the day with her companions, loitering having his vehicle repaired and funding treats and narcotics, before being shot by Brittney's boyfriend Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has often been institutionalized for aggressive outbursts.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
Catt develops an obsession by the account, and I was fascinated by the way that her twin drives towards accurate chronicling and reckless transgression tussle in this section. But I'd have liked her to explore more thoroughly her individual preoccupations here. The compelling persona is Brittney herself, who becomes vivid partly through Catt seeing herself in her – another bright, bullied girl going off the rails in a difficult, overlooked locality. Kraus notes that Catt speaks to Brittney in jail, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The complete segment feels curiously unresolved, to the extent that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par
