This latest work features characters pursuing clean slates, trying to break free from substance abuse or toxic relationships, only to see hope turn into aggression. Kraus often employs the phrase "fresh start", rendering it willfully cynical through recurring use. Sentences like "He aimed to start over" and "They chose to begin anew" appear throughout the story. Meanwhile, Kraus herself is embarking on her own fresh start, since this seems a different type of work – fact-based, authentically narrative. But then it reveals itself to be filled with the familiar conflicts and aesthetics as her previous works.
From Unplanned Author to Cult Classic
Chris Kraus was originally an artist who transitioned to writing unintentionally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, which was composed of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, transforming confessional female writing from self-debasement into defiance. She kept producing books, but the following three compelling and abrasive novels lacked the power and directness that the letter form brought to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her role as a nonconformist creator who had turned into a major property owner, so there was considerable focus on real estate deals. It follows that she currently desires to try out fresh narrative sources, turning outward to the experiences of others, at a moment when she states that current political era makes confessional writing unnecessary.
Three Generations, Collective Unavoidable Background
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, spanning multiple eras – each trapped by their backgrounds. We encounter the tale of characters Emma and Jasper, versions of her own mother and father, relocating from the New York borough to the Connecticut countryside. There is the story of Kraus herself, in the guise of Catt Greene, grappling with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her substance-dependent spouse a man named Paul. Finally the narrative of a homicide of one directionless individual by another in a locality largely deserted by progressive politics only a brief drive from Catt's rural residence in a remote part of Minnesota.
From my perspective as a reader drawn to honed writing of the sort Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was enchanted by the narrative style of the opening part.
As a reader drawn to honed writing of the kind that the author tends to eschew, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the opening segment. There is a new quality of attentiveness that makes room for small details, like the container that the young Catt frees from the ice at the beginning of the narrative, aided by her cherished parent. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she says; "a great plaything", he answers, "the nuanced interpretations of terms rolling around in their mouths like hard candy". The author narrates the tale of Emma with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not hers, exactly."
Frustration and Disruption
I was destined to be disappointed when I hoped this different style could last out the book. Kraus says here that she dislikes the pleasure audiences such as myself have derived from I Love Dick; she's committed to disruption, to the untidy aesthetics she has in common with her hero Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her previous novels returns in the second segment. Catt Greene is working on refurbishing multiple decrepit residences in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while traveling between Minnesota and LA, unable to aid Paul manage his alcohol use. She is overwhelmed as Paul transitions between poorly supported positions as an substance abuse counselor in a environment propelled by the anger and fear that powers an electoral success. Multiple pages are devoted about the protagonist facing cancellation on Twitter, her occupation changed from "author" to "property owner" on a reference site. Kraus still seems to invest excessive emotion about this. At one point she remarks that she's researching the homicide so that before leaving Minnesota, "she might be able to learn something about an the United States that her Twitter detractors would fail to comprehend, would not even perceive".
The Killing Story
So then we come to the actual killing – and the eponymous day spent by the deceased with the killer and his companions. Kraus has excellent raw material, and knows hour by hour what transpired when Brandon came to meet Brittney after meeting her on an app where she sold sex pictures. He was hoping for sex but appears congenially to have passed the day with her companions, wandering about fixing his automobile and covering the cost of food and substances, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's boyfriend Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has frequently been hospitalised for aggressive outbursts.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
Catt develops an obsession by the narrative, and I found myself captivated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards responsible documentation and daring boundary-pushing tussle in this section. However, I would have preferred her to explore more thoroughly her own obsessions here. The most interesting character is Brittney herself, who comes alive partly through Catt's identification with her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman spiraling out of control in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus tells us that Catt converses with Brittney in jail, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The complete segment feels curiously unresolved, to the extent that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par
