The Four Spent the Day Together from Chris Kraus – An Iconic Writer Ventures Into Fresh Territory

The Four Spent the Day Together features individuals chasing after new beginnings, trying to break free from drugs or harmful partnerships, only to witness hope devolve into violence. Kraus frequently uses the phrase "clean slate", rendering it intentionally weary through its repetitions. Phrases such as "He could make a fresh start" and "They chose to begin anew" are scattered across the story. Meanwhile, the author herself is embarking on her own fresh start, since this appears a different type of work – fact-based, truly literary. But then it reveals itself to be filled with the familiar conflicts and aesthetics as her previous works.

From Chance Novelist to Cult Classic

The writer started out as an artist who became a writer somewhat by chance with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, made up of missives to a distant beloved, transforming personal female narrative from humiliation into assassination. She kept producing books, but the three subsequent engaging and challenging novels did not possess the power and directness that the epistolary style imparted to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her identity 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 try out different types of content, turning outward to other people's stories, at a period in which she claims that current political era renders personal narrative redundant.

Multiple Generations, Shared Inescapable History

The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, spanning multiple eras – all unable to escape their backgrounds. The book includes the story of Emma and Jasper, based on the author's parents, relocating from the Bronx to rural Connecticut. Additionally the story of Kraus herself, in the character of protagonist Catt Greene, reckoning with the belated success of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her addict husband Paul. And there is the story of the murder of one troubled youth by another in a community largely deserted by liberal ideals only a brief drive from Catt's rural residence in a remote part of Minnesota.

From my perspective as a reader drawn to refined literature of the type the author herself typically rejects, I was seduced by the narrative style of the first section.

As a reader drawn to precise prose of the kind that Kraus usually avoids, I was captivated by the literary tone of the initial part. There is a novel degree of detail that allows space for small details, like the bucket that the young Catt pries out of frozen water at the start of the story, helped by her adored dad. "Look, an ice toy!" she says; "a nice toy", he responds, "the ambiguous meanings of language tumbling in their mouths like hard candy". Kraus writes Emma's narrative with interest and closeness. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not precisely her dream."

Frustration and Disruption

I was fated to feel let down when I expected this fresh tone could last out the book. Kraus notes here that she resents the satisfaction audiences such as myself have gotten from I Love Dick; she's committed to fragmentation, to the messy artistic approach she shares with her inspiration author Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her earlier works returns in the central part. The protagonist is trying to renovate three dozen dilapidated units in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while traveling between two different states, failing to help Paul control his drinking. She feels helpless as Paul transitions between underfunded jobs as an substance abuse counselor in a society driven by the rage and anxiety that powers a political win. There are several pages about Catt's social media ostracism on social media, her occupation changed from "author" to "real estate holder" on the online encyclopedia. Kraus still seems to invest excessive emotion about this. On one occasion she says 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 social media opponents would fail to comprehend, would overlook entirely".

The Murder Narrative

Thus we arrive to the homicide in question – and the titular day spent by the murdered individual with the murderer and his friends. Kraus utilizes compelling foundational content, and reconstructs step by step what occurred as the victim Brandon came to see Brittney after meeting her on an app where she marketed explicit images. He sought a sexual encounter but seems affably to have spent the day with her companions, mooching around getting his car mended and covering the cost of food and substances, before being murdered by Brittney's partner Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has often been institutionalized for violent rage.

Preoccupation and Open Ends

The protagonist becomes fixated by the story, and I found myself captivated by the way that her twin drives towards ethical reporting and audacious rule-breaking clash in this segment. Yet I wished her to delve deeper into her individual preoccupations here. The standout figure is Brittney, who becomes vivid in part due to Catt's identification with her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman derailing in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus tells us that Catt speaks to Brittney in detention, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. This entire part feels curiously unresolved, to the extent that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par