This latest work features protagonists seeking fresh starts, struggling to escape substance abuse or harmful partnerships, only to find hope curdling into conflict. Kraus often employs the phrase "clean slate", making it deliberately jaded through constant reiteration. Examples include "He aimed to start over" and "They opted for a clean break" appear throughout the narrative. Meanwhile, the author herself appears to be undertaking her individual reinvention, because this presents as a new kind of book – observational, truly literary. But then it reveals itself to be packed with the same dilemmas and styles as earlier books.
From Unplanned Author to Renowned Book
Chris Kraus was originally an artist who became a writer somewhat by chance with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, which was composed of missives to a distant beloved, converting intimate women's literature from abjection into assassination. She persisted as a writer, but the following three engaging and challenging novels lacked the shock and immediacy that the letter form imparted to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her role as a nonconformist creator who had turned into a major property owner, so there was considerable focus on property transactions. It is logical that she presently aims to experiment with different types of content, looking outwards to the experiences of others, at a time when she states that contemporary political climate turns intimate literature obsolete.
Multiple Generations, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, spanning multiple eras – all unable to escape their histories. There is the story of characters Emma and Jasper, based on the author's parents, transitioning from the Bronx to rural Connecticut. Additionally the story of Kraus herself, in the character 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 directionless individual by another in a town long abandoned by progressive politics only a short distance from the protagonist's home in rural Minnesota.
As a reader drawn to honed writing of the sort Kraus typically rejects, I was enchanted by the literary tone of the opening part.
Being a reader drawn to honed writing of the variety that Kraus herself often disregards, I was seduced by the literary tone of the first section. There is a novel degree of detail that allows space for minutiae, like the pail that the youthful Catt pries out of frozen water at the opening of the book, helped by her beloved father. "I found an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a great plaything", he responds, "the elliptical meanings of words tumbling in their mouths like hard candy". Kraus writes Emma's story with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not hers, exactly."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was bound to become frustrated when I wished this fresh tone could continue through the novel. Kraus notes here that she resents the pleasure readers like me have gotten from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disjunction, to the untidy aesthetics she shares with her inspiration author Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her earlier works returns in the middle section. Catt Greene is attempting to do up multiple decrepit residences in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while moving between the Midwest and the West Coast, failing to help Paul curb his addiction. She feels helpless as Paul transitions between poorly supported positions as an addiction therapist in a environment driven by the hostility and dread that drives an electoral success. There are several pages about Catt being cancelled on social media, her listed profession modified from "author" to "real estate holder" on Wikipedia. Kraus still seems to be overly concerned about this. At one point she states that she's investigating the murder so that before departing the state, "she might be able to learn something about an America that her online critics would be unable to grasp, would not even see".
The Homicide Account
Then we reach to the murder itself – and the eponymous day spent by the deceased with the perpetrator and his friends. Kraus utilizes compelling foundational content, and knows hour by hour what occurred as Brandon came to meet Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she offered adult photos. He was hoping for sex but appears congenially to have passed the day with her companions, mooching around fixing his automobile and funding treats and narcotics, before being murdered by Brittney's boyfriend Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has often been institutionalized for violent rage.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
Catt gets obsessed by the account, and I was intrigued by the way that her twin drives towards responsible documentation and audacious rule-breaking wrestle in this part. But I'd have liked her to explore more thoroughly her personal fixations here. The compelling persona is Brittney herself, who gains dimension partly through Catt's identification with her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman derailing in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus notes that Catt speaks to Brittney in prison, but she fails to enact these dialogues. This entire part feels curiously unresolved, to the extent that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
