The Four Spent the Day Together from Chris Kraus – A Renowned Writer Explores New Ground

This latest work centers on individuals pursuing new beginnings, struggling to escape substance abuse or abusive marriages, only to find hope curdling into violence. Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "fresh start", transforming it into deliberately jaded through its repetitions. Phrases such as "He could make a fresh start" and "They opted for a clean break" recur in the text. And yet, Kraus herself is embarking on her individual reinvention, as this seems a new kind of book – observational, authentically narrative. However it turns out to be packed with the same dilemmas and styles as past novels.

From Accidental Writer to Cult Classic

Chris Kraus started out as an artist who became a writer almost accidentally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, made up of letters to an unreceptive lover, elevating personal female narrative from abjection into assassination. She kept producing books, but the next trio of engaging and challenging novels missed the impact and rawness that the letter form imparted to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her position as a maverick maker who had become a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was considerable focus on property transactions. It follows that she now wants to explore different types of content, looking outwards to the experiences of others, at a moment when she claims that current political era makes confessional writing redundant.

Several Eras, One Unescapable Past

The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, spanning several time periods – none able to break free from their histories. There is the story of a couple named Emma and Jasper, based on Kraus's parents, transitioning from the urban environment to a pastoral setting. Additionally the story of Kraus herself, in the character of a figure named Catt Greene, reckoning with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse Paul. Finally the account of a killing of one lost young man by another in a locality largely deserted by forward-thinking policies only a short distance from Catt's rural residence in rural Minnesota.

From my perspective as a reader attracted to polished prose of the kind the author herself often avoids, I was seduced by the narrative style of the opening part.

Being a reader who appreciates honed writing of the variety that the author usually avoids, I was captivated by the storytelling approach of the initial part. It exhibits a fresh level of observation that accommodates minutiae, like the bucket that the youthful Catt pries out of frozen water at the opening of the book, aided by her adored dad. "I found an ice toy!" she says; "a nice toy", he responds, "the nuanced interpretations of terms rolling around in their mouths like sweet treats". She tells the tale of Emma with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not entirely her own."

Letdown and Fragmentation

I was destined to be disappointed when I hoped this fresh tone could last out the book. Kraus notes here that she resents the pleasure audiences such as myself have derived from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disjunction, to the unpolished style she has in common with her inspiration author Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her earlier works reasserts itself in the central part. The protagonist is trying to renovate three dozen dilapidated units in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while moving between Minnesota and LA, unable to aid Paul manage his alcohol use. She feels helpless as Paul transitions between low-resource employment as an substance abuse counselor in a world fueled by the anger and fear that underpins a political win. Multiple pages are devoted about Catt's social media ostracism on a platform, her professional designation altered from "author" to "real estate holder" on the online encyclopedia. She still gives the impression to care a little too much about this. In a moment she states that she's investigating the murder so that before departing the state, "she may grasp something about an America that her social media opponents would not understand, would not even perceive".

The Killing Story

Then we reach to the murder itself – and the referenced day passed by the murdered individual with the perpetrator and his companions. The author possesses compelling foundational content, and knows hour by hour what transpired when Brandon came to visit Brittney after meeting her on an app where she marketed explicit images. He anticipated intimacy but seems amiably to have occupied the day with her companions, wandering about having his vehicle repaired and covering the cost of food and substances, before being murdered by her romantic interest Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has repeatedly received inpatient care for aggressive outbursts.

Preoccupation and Open Ends

Catt gets obsessed by the narrative, and I was intrigued by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards ethical reporting and reckless transgression tussle in this section. Yet I wished her to go further into her own obsessions here. The standout figure is the character Brittney, who becomes vivid partially because of Catt's identification with her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman going off the rails in a struggling, neglected community. The author informs us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in detention, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The complete segment feels strangely incomplete, to the extent that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par