This latest work centers on individuals pursuing clean slates, struggling to escape drugs or harmful partnerships, only to see hope turn into violence. Chris Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "fresh start", rendering it willfully cynical through its repetitions. Phrases such as "He aimed to start over" and "They opted for a clean break" appear throughout the narrative. And yet, she appears to be undertaking her own fresh start, as this appears a new kind of book – fact-based, genuinely novelistic. But then it reveals itself to be laden with the recurring issues and approaches as her previous works.
From Unplanned Author to Iconic Work
Chris Kraus was originally an visual artist who entered the literary world almost accidentally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, made up of letters to an unreceptive lover, transforming confessional female writing from abjection into defiance. She continued writing, but the following three engaging and challenging novels lacked the power and directness that the epistolary style imparted to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her position as a maverick maker who had turned into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was considerable focus on housing investments. It follows that she currently desires to explore fresh narrative sources, looking outwards to external narratives, at a moment when she asserts that current political era renders personal narrative unnecessary.
Three Generations, Collective Unavoidable Background
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, covering multiple eras – each trapped by their histories. We encounter the narrative about Emma and Jasper, based on her own mother and father, relocating from the urban environment to a pastoral setting. There is the account of Kraus, in the guise of protagonist Catt Greene, grappling with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her partner struggling with addiction her husband Paul. The third thread involves the account of a killing of one directionless individual by another in a locality long abandoned by forward-thinking policies only a short distance from Catt's rural residence in rural Minnesota.
For this reader drawn to honed writing of the kind the author herself typically rejects, I was enchanted by the novelistic voice of the first section.
As a reader who appreciates honed writing of the kind that Kraus tends to eschew, I was captivated by the literary tone of the opening segment. There is a new quality of attentiveness that allows space for small details, like the bucket that the young Catt pries out of frozen water at the start of the story, assisted by her adored dad. "I found an ice toy!" she says; "a nice toy", he responds, "the elliptical meanings of words circulating in their speech like sweet treats". The author narrates the tale of Emma with interest and closeness. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not precisely her dream."
Letdown and Fragmentation
I was fated to feel let down when I expected this new voice could continue through the novel. Kraus says here that she dislikes the enjoyment those who appreciate polished prose have gotten from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disjunction, to the untidy aesthetics she echoes from her inspiration Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her earlier works returns in the central part. The protagonist is working on refurbishing 36 run-down apartments in the city's most challenging districts while moving between Minnesota and LA, unable to aid Paul curb his addiction. She experiences powerlessness as Paul transitions between low-resource employment as an substance abuse counselor in a society fueled by the rage and anxiety that underpins a political win. A significant portion discusses about Catt being cancelled on Twitter, her professional designation altered from "writer" to "real estate holder" on the online encyclopedia. She still gives the impression to invest excessive emotion about this. On one occasion she remarks that she's researching the homicide so that before exiting the region, "she could potentially understand something about an the United States that her social media opponents would not understand, would not even see".
The Murder Narrative
Thus we arrive to the homicide in question – and the eponymous day experienced by the victim with the murderer and his companions. Kraus utilizes excellent raw material, and reconstructs step by step what happened when Brandon came to meet Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she sold sex pictures. He was hoping for sex but appears congenially to have passed the day in the company of her associates, loitering having his vehicle repaired and paying for snacks and drugs, before being shot by Brittney's boyfriend a man named Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has frequently been hospitalised for violent rage.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
Catt gets obsessed by the story, and I was fascinated by the way that her twin drives towards ethical reporting and daring boundary-pushing wrestle in this part. Yet I wished her to go further into her personal fixations here. The standout figure is Brittney, who gains dimension partly through Catt seeing herself in her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman spiraling out of control in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus tells us that Catt speaks to Brittney in detention, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The complete segment feels strangely incomplete, to the degree that her narrative ends almost mid-par
