A Look at The Four Spent the Day Together from Chris Kraus – A Renowned Writer Explores Fresh Territory

The new book features protagonists chasing after fresh starts, struggling to escape substance abuse or toxic relationships, only to find hope curdling into aggression. The author frequently uses the phrase "fresh start", rendering it intentionally weary through constant reiteration. Examples include "He aimed to start over" and "They opted for a clean break" recur in the text. And yet, Kraus herself seems to be making her individual reinvention, since this seems a novel form of writing – observational, authentically narrative. Yet it proves to be filled with the recurring issues and styles as past novels.

From Unplanned Author to Iconic Work

Chris Kraus began as an artist who transitioned to writing somewhat by chance with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, structured as epistles to an unresponsive love interest, elevating confessional female writing from self-debasement into defiance. She continued writing, but the next trio of compelling and abrasive novels lacked the shock and immediacy that the epistolary style infused into the voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her position as a nonconformist creator who had turned into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was much discussion on housing investments. It follows that she now wants to experiment with new kinds of material, looking outwards to external narratives, at a period in which she claims that Trumpian politics makes confessional writing redundant.

Several Eras, One Unescapable Past

The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, spanning three generations – each trapped by their backgrounds. The book includes the narrative about characters Emma and Jasper, representations of her own mother and father, moving from the Bronx to the Connecticut countryside. Additionally the account of Kraus, in the guise of protagonist Catt Greene, confronting the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her partner struggling with addiction a man named Paul. The third thread involves the story of the murder of one troubled youth by another in a locality largely deserted by liberal ideals only a brief drive from Catt's cottage in rural Minnesota.

From my perspective as a reader fond of honed writing of the sort the author herself tends to eschew, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the first section.

Being a reader who favors honed writing of the style that the author usually avoids, I was won over by the literary tone of the first section. It exhibits a fresh level of observation that makes room for minutiae, like the container that the young Catt pries out of frozen water at the opening of the book, aided by her adored dad. "I found an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a nice toy", he responds, "the ambiguous meanings of language rolling around in their mouths like piece candy". Kraus writes Emma's narrative with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not hers, exactly."

Letdown and Fragmentation

I was fated to feel let down when I wished this fresh tone could continue through the novel. Kraus says here that she is annoyed by the pleasure readers like me have derived from I Love Dick; she's committed to disjunction, to the messy artistic approach she shares with her inspiration Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her previous novels comes back in the second segment. Catt Greene is attempting to do up three dozen dilapidated units in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while moving between two different states, failing to help Paul curb his addiction. She experiences powerlessness as Paul transitions between underfunded jobs as an recovery specialist in a environment propelled by the hostility and dread that powers a political win. A significant portion discusses about Catt being cancelled on a platform, her listed profession modified from "author" to "real estate holder" on a reference site. Kraus still seems to be overly concerned about this. At one point she says that she's looking into the killing so that before exiting the region, "she may grasp something about an America that her social media opponents would not understand, would not even perceive".

The Killing Story

So then we come to the actual killing – and the referenced day spent by the deceased with the perpetrator and his companions. Kraus has great source material, and knows hour by hour what happened when a man named Brandon came to meet Brittney after meeting her on an app where she offered adult photos. He was hoping for sex but seems amiably to have occupied the day with her companions, loitering fixing his automobile and paying for snacks and drugs, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's boyfriend a man named Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has repeatedly received inpatient care for aggressive outbursts.

Preoccupation and Open Ends

Catt gets obsessed by the story, and I was fascinated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards ethical reporting and daring boundary-pushing clash in this segment. But I'd have liked her to explore more thoroughly her individual preoccupations here. The compelling persona is Brittney, who gains dimension partly through Catt seeing herself in her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual going off the rails in a troubled, forgotten town. The author informs us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in detention, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. This entire part feels curiously unresolved, to the degree that her narrative ends almost mid-par