This latest work centers on characters pursuing clean slates, struggling to escape drugs or abusive marriages, only to witness hope devolve into violence. Chris Kraus often employs the phrase "new beginning", making it deliberately jaded through its repetitions. Phrases such as "He aimed to start over" and "They opted for a clean break" are scattered across the narrative. And yet, she seems to be making her personal new beginning, as this presents as a novel form of writing – documentarian, genuinely novelistic. However it reveals itself to be laden with the same dilemmas and approaches as her previous works.
From Chance Novelist to Cult Classic
The writer was originally an artist who transitioned to writing unintentionally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, which was composed of letters to an unreceptive lover, elevating intimate women's literature from humiliation into assassination. She continued writing, but the following three engaging and challenging novels did not possess the shock and immediacy that the epistolary style imparted to the voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her identity as a nonconformist creator who had evolved into a major property owner, so there was much discussion on real estate deals. It makes sense that she presently aims to try out new kinds of material, looking outwards to the experiences of others, at a period in which she claims that contemporary political climate makes confessional writing redundant.
Multiple Generations, Collective Unavoidable Background
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, covering several time periods – each trapped by their histories. There is the tale of a couple named Emma and Jasper, representations of Kraus's parents, transitioning from the Bronx to rural Connecticut. There is the story of Kraus herself, in the guise of a figure named Catt Greene, grappling with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction a man named Paul. And there is the story of the murder of one directionless individual by another in a town largely deserted by liberal ideals only 80 miles from the protagonist's home in a remote part of Minnesota.
As a reader attracted to polished prose of the type the author herself tends to eschew, I was captivated by the literary tone of the opening part.
As a reader drawn to precise prose of the style that Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was captivated by the literary tone of the initial part. It exhibits a fresh level of observation that accommodates minutiae, like the container that the protagonist as a child dislodges from ice at the beginning of the narrative, assisted by her beloved father. "Look, an ice toy!" she declares; "a great plaything", he answers, "the ambiguous meanings of language circulating in their speech like piece candy". Kraus writes Emma's story with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not entirely her own."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was destined to be disappointed when I expected this different style could continue through the novel. The author states here that she dislikes the pleasure those who appreciate polished prose have gotten from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disjunction, to the messy artistic approach she has in common with her idol Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her earlier works comes back in the central part. The protagonist is trying to renovate multiple decrepit residences in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while moving between Minnesota and LA, failing to help Paul curb his addiction. She experiences powerlessness as Paul cycles through low-resource employment as an recovery specialist in a environment driven by the hostility and dread that drives a political win. There are several pages about Catt being cancelled on a platform, her listed profession modified from "novelist" to "real estate holder" on the online encyclopedia. Kraus still seems to be overly concerned about this. In a moment she remarks that she's looking into the killing so that before leaving Minnesota, "she might be able to learn something about an America that her online critics would not understand, would not even perceive".
The Murder Narrative
So then we come to the murder itself – and the eponymous day passed by the victim with the perpetrator and his friends. Kraus has compelling foundational content, and details moment by moment what transpired when Brandon came to visit Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she sold sex pictures. He anticipated intimacy but seems amiably to have occupied the day in the company of her associates, wandering about getting his car mended and covering the cost of food and substances, before being murdered by Brittney's boyfriend a man named Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has repeatedly received inpatient care for violent rage.
Fascination and Incompletion
The protagonist becomes fixated by the narrative, and I was fascinated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards responsible documentation and daring boundary-pushing wrestle in this part. However, I would have preferred her to explore more thoroughly her personal fixations here. The standout figure is the character Brittney, who comes alive in part due to Catt seeing herself in her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual spiraling out of control in a difficult, overlooked locality. Kraus notes that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in detention, but she fails to enact these dialogues. This entire part feels strangely incomplete, to the point that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
