This latest work is populated with characters chasing after fresh starts, trying to break free from drugs or toxic relationships, only to witness hope devolve into violence. Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "new beginning", rendering it willfully cynical through constant reiteration. Phrases such as "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They chose to begin anew" appear throughout the text. And yet, Kraus herself is embarking on her own fresh start, because this presents as a different type of work – documentarian, genuinely novelistic. Yet it turns out to be packed with the recurring issues and styles as earlier books.
From Accidental Writer to Iconic Work
Chris Kraus began as an creative who transitioned to writing somewhat by chance with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, made up of missives to a distant beloved, transforming confessional female writing from abjection into defiance. She kept producing books, but the three subsequent compelling and abrasive novels did not possess the impact and rawness that the correspondence format brought to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her role as a renegade artist who had turned into a major property owner, so there was much discussion on housing investments. It makes sense that she presently aims to explore new kinds of material, looking outwards to other people's stories, at a moment when she asserts that current political era renders personal narrative unnecessary.
Several Eras, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, encompassing three generations – each trapped by their backgrounds. We encounter the tale of characters Emma and Jasper, versions of the author's parents, moving from the New York borough to a pastoral setting. Then there is the narrative of the author, in the persona of protagonist Catt Greene, grappling with the belated success of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her addict husband Paul. The third thread involves the account of a killing of one directionless individual by another in a town largely deserted by progressive politics only a short distance from the protagonist's home in the Minnesota countryside.
From my perspective as a reader fond of refined literature of the sort Kraus typically rejects, I was captivated by the narrative style of the initial segment.
As someone who reads drawn to precise prose of the style that the author tends to eschew, I was won over by the novelistic voice of the first section. It possesses a fresh level of observation that allows space for minutiae, like the pail that the youthful Catt dislodges from ice at the start of the story, aided by her beloved father. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she says; "a great plaything", he replies, "the elliptical meanings of words circulating in their speech like sweet treats". Kraus writes the tale of Emma with inquiry and familiarity. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not entirely her own."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was bound to become frustrated when I expected this new voice could last out the book. Kraus says here that she resents the pleasure audiences such as myself have taken from I Love Dick; she's committed to disruption, to the messy artistic approach she has in common with her idol writer Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her previous novels returns in the second segment. Catt Greene is working on refurbishing multiple decrepit residences in the city's most challenging districts while traveling between two different states, unsuccessful in assisting Paul control his drinking. She feels helpless as Paul moves between poorly supported positions as an substance abuse counselor in a environment driven by the hostility and dread that powers Trump's victory. There are several pages about Catt's social media ostracism on social media, her professional designation altered from "novelist" to "property owner" on a reference site. The author still appears to be overly concerned about this. In a moment she says that she's researching the homicide so that before leaving Minnesota, "she might be able to learn something about an the United States that her online critics would fail to comprehend, would not even see".
The Killing Story
Thus we arrive to the actual killing – and the titular day passed by the deceased with the killer and his friends. Kraus utilizes compelling foundational content, and knows hour by hour what transpired when the victim Brandon came to meet Brittney after meeting her on an app where she offered adult photos. He sought a sexual encounter but seems affably to have spent the day in the company of her associates, wandering about having his vehicle repaired and paying for snacks and drugs, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's partner a man named Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has repeatedly received inpatient care for aggressive outbursts.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
Catt develops an obsession by the story, and I found myself captivated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards ethical reporting and audacious rule-breaking wrestle in this part. However, I would have preferred her to delve deeper into her own obsessions here. The compelling persona is the character Brittney, who becomes vivid in part due to Catt's identification with her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman spiraling out of control in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus notes that Catt converses with Brittney in prison, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The complete segment feels curiously unresolved, to the degree that her narrative ends almost mid-par
