This latest work is populated with individuals pursuing new beginnings, struggling to escape drugs or toxic relationships, only to find hope curdling into conflict. Chris Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "new beginning", rendering it willfully cynical through its repetitions. Phrases such as "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They decided to make a fresh start" appear throughout the story. And yet, Kraus herself seems to be making her own fresh start, as this appears a novel form of writing – observational, truly literary. But then it proves to be laden with the familiar conflicts and aesthetics as her previous works.
From Accidental Writer to Renowned Book
Kraus started out as an visual artist who transitioned to writing somewhat by chance with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, which was composed of letters to an unreceptive lover, converting confessional female writing from self-debasement into assassination. She continued writing, but the next trio of fascinating and rebarbative novels did not possess the impact and rawness that the epistolary style infused into the narrative voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her role as a maverick maker who had evolved into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was considerable focus on property transactions. It follows that she now wants to try out different types of content, turning outward to external narratives, at a moment when she claims that Trumpian politics turns intimate literature obsolete.
Three Generations, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, encompassing several time periods – all unable to escape their histories. We encounter the narrative about a couple named Emma and Jasper, representations of the author's parents, relocating from the urban environment to the Connecticut countryside. Additionally the narrative of the author, in the persona of a figure named Catt Greene, reckoning with the belated success of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her addict husband Paul. Finally the narrative of a homicide of one directionless individual by another in a community long abandoned by progressive politics only a brief drive from Catt's rural residence in a remote part of Minnesota.
For this reader drawn to honed writing of the kind Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was enchanted by the narrative style of the opening part.
Being a reader who appreciates precise prose of the style that Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was won over by the storytelling approach of the opening segment. There is a novel degree of detail that makes room for small details, like the container that the young Catt dislodges from ice at the opening of the book, helped by her adored dad. "Look, an ice toy!" she says; "a nice toy", he answers, "the ambiguous meanings of language circulating in their speech like sweet treats". She tells Emma's story with interest and closeness. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not entirely her own."
Frustration and Disruption
I was destined to be disappointed when I hoped this new voice could persist to the end. Kraus notes here that she is annoyed by the pleasure those who appreciate polished prose have taken from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disjunction, to the untidy aesthetics she has in common with her inspiration Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her past books returns 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, unsuccessful in assisting Paul control his drinking. She feels helpless as her spouse cycles through poorly supported positions as an addiction therapist in a environment fueled by the hostility and dread that drives a political win. A significant portion discusses about the protagonist facing cancellation on a platform, her occupation changed from "author" to "real estate holder" on Wikipedia. The author still appears to be overly concerned about this. On one occasion she states that she's researching the homicide so that before departing the state, "she might be able to learn something about an the United States that her Twitter detractors would not understand, would not even see".
The Homicide Account
So then we come to the homicide in question – and the eponymous day passed by the murdered individual with the killer and his companions. Kraus has great source material, and knows hour by hour what happened when a man named Brandon came to see Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she offered adult photos. He sought a sexual encounter but seems affably to have spent the day with her companions, mooching around fixing his automobile and paying for snacks and drugs, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's boyfriend Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has frequently been hospitalised for aggressive outbursts.
Preoccupation and Open Ends
Catt gets obsessed by the narrative, and I was fascinated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards accurate chronicling and audacious rule-breaking tussle in this section. But I'd have liked her to go further into her individual preoccupations here. The standout figure is Brittney, who gains dimension partially because of the protagonist's connection to her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman derailing in a troubled, forgotten town. The author informs us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in detention, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The whole section feels strangely incomplete, to the degree that her narrative ends almost mid-par
