The Four Spent the Day Together from Chris Kraus – An Iconic Writer Ventures Into Something New

This latest work is populated with protagonists chasing after clean slates, attempting to leave behind addictions or harmful partnerships, only to see hope turn into aggression. Kraus often employs the phrase "fresh start", making it willfully cynical through constant reiteration. Phrases such as "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They chose to begin anew" are scattered across the story. And yet, she is embarking on her own fresh start, since this seems a different type of work – observational, authentically narrative. Yet it reveals itself to be filled with the recurring issues and aesthetics as earlier books.

From Unplanned Author to Cult Classic

Kraus was originally an visual artist who entered the literary world somewhat by chance with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, made up of missives to a distant beloved, converting personal female narrative from humiliation into defiance. She persisted as a writer, but the three subsequent compelling and abrasive novels lacked the impact and rawness that the epistolary style imparted to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her role as a renegade artist who had evolved into a extensive real estate holder, so there was much discussion on housing investments. It follows that she currently desires to experiment with different types of content, turning outward to the experiences of others, at a time when she claims that contemporary political climate renders personal narrative obsolete.

Several Eras, Shared Inescapable History

The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, spanning multiple eras – each trapped by their histories. We encounter the story of characters Emma and Jasper, representations of her own mother and father, moving from the New York borough to a pastoral setting. There is the narrative of the author, in the guise of Catt Greene, reckoning with the belated success of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse a man named Paul. The third thread involves the account of a killing of one directionless individual by another in a town largely deserted by liberal ideals only a brief drive from Catt's cottage in the Minnesota countryside.

For this reader attracted to polished prose of the kind the author herself typically rejects, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the opening part.

As a reader who appreciates precise prose of the variety that Kraus often disregards, I was won over by the literary tone of the first section. There is a novel degree of detail that makes room for small details, like the pail that the protagonist as a child pries out of frozen water at the opening of the book, assisted by her beloved father. "I found an ice toy!" she says; "a lovely toy", he answers, "the elliptical meanings of words circulating in their speech like hard candy". The author narrates the tale of Emma with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not precisely her dream."

Letdown and Fragmentation

I was destined to be disappointed when I wished this fresh tone could continue through the novel. Kraus notes here that she resents the enjoyment audiences such as myself have taken from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disruption, to the untidy aesthetics she shares with her idol writer Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her earlier works comes back in the central part. Catt is trying to renovate 36 run-down apartments in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while shuttling between two different states, failing to help Paul control his drinking. She is overwhelmed as her spouse transitions between low-resource employment as an substance abuse counselor in a world fueled by the hostility and dread that drives a political win. Multiple pages are devoted about Catt's social media ostracism on a platform, her listed profession modified from "novelist" to "property owner" on the online encyclopedia. She still gives the impression to invest excessive emotion about this. In a moment she says that she's looking into the killing so that before leaving Minnesota, "she may grasp something about an the United States that her online critics would be unable to grasp, would not even see".

The Killing Story

So then we come to the homicide in question – and the referenced day experienced by the victim with the killer and his companions. Kraus has compelling foundational content, and details moment by moment what transpired when Brandon came to visit Brittney after connecting via an application where she offered adult photos. He anticipated intimacy but seems affably to have spent the day with her companions, wandering about having his vehicle repaired and covering the cost of food and substances, before being shot by Brittney's boyfriend Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has often been institutionalized for fits of anger.

Preoccupation and Open Ends

Catt develops an obsession by the narrative, and I found myself captivated by the way that her twin drives towards accurate chronicling and reckless transgression clash in this segment. However, I would have preferred her to explore more thoroughly her individual preoccupations here. The compelling persona is the character Brittney, who gains dimension in part due to the protagonist's connection to her – another bright, bullied girl going off the rails in a troubled, forgotten town. The author informs us that Catt converses with Brittney in jail, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The complete segment feels oddly unfinished, to the degree that her narrative ends almost mid-par