This latest work is populated with protagonists seeking fresh starts, struggling to escape drugs or harmful partnerships, only to see hope turn into conflict. The author often employs the phrase "fresh start", transforming it into deliberately jaded through constant reiteration. Sentences like "He aimed to start over" and "They chose to begin anew" recur in the narrative. And yet, Kraus herself seems to be making her personal new beginning, since this appears a different type of work – observational, truly literary. However it proves to be packed with the familiar conflicts and approaches as past novels.
From Unplanned Author to Renowned Book
Chris Kraus was originally an visual artist who became a writer somewhat by chance with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, structured as epistles to an unresponsive love interest, transforming confessional female writing from humiliation into defiance. She kept producing books, but the three subsequent compelling and abrasive novels missed the power and directness that the letter form brought to the tone of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her position as a renegade artist who had evolved into a major property owner, so there was significant attention on property transactions. It makes sense that she currently desires to explore different types of content, looking outwards to external narratives, at a moment when she claims that current political era makes confessional writing obsolete.
Multiple Generations, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, encompassing multiple eras – none able to break free from their pasts. The book includes the narrative about characters Emma and Jasper, versions of Kraus's parents, moving from the urban environment to a pastoral setting. Then there is the account of Kraus, in the persona of protagonist Catt Greene, grappling with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse her husband Paul. The third thread involves the story of the murder of one lost young man by another in a community long abandoned by progressive politics only 80 miles from Catt's rural residence in a remote part of Minnesota.
As a reader drawn to refined literature of the type Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the opening part.
As a reader who favors crafted language of the variety that the author often disregards, I was seduced by the literary tone of the first section. It possesses a novel degree of detail that makes room for trivial aspects, like the bucket that the young Catt dislodges from ice at the start of the story, helped by her cherished parent. "I found an ice toy!" she declares; "a lovely toy", he answers, "the elliptical meanings of words circulating in their speech like piece candy". Kraus writes Emma's narrative with inquiry and familiarity. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not entirely her own."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was destined to be disappointed when I wished this new voice could continue through the novel. Kraus notes here that she resents the pleasure those who appreciate polished prose have gotten from I Love Dick; she's devoted to fragmentation, to the messy artistic approach she echoes from her hero writer Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her past books comes back in the second segment. Catt is trying to renovate three dozen dilapidated units in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while traveling between two different states, unable to aid her husband manage his alcohol use. She experiences powerlessness as Paul transitions between underfunded jobs as an substance abuse counselor in a environment propelled by the hostility and dread that underpins an electoral success. There are several pages about the protagonist facing cancellation on social media, her professional designation altered from "author" to "property owner" on a reference site. The author still appears to be overly concerned about this. In a moment she remarks that she's looking into the killing so that before departing the state, "she might be able to learn something about an the United States that her online critics would fail to comprehend, would overlook entirely".
The Homicide Account
Thus we arrive to the actual killing – and the eponymous day spent by the murdered individual with the murderer and his companions. The author possesses excellent raw material, and reconstructs step by step what transpired when a man named Brandon came to meet Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she sold sex pictures. He sought a sexual encounter but appears congenially to have passed the day with her companions, wandering about having his vehicle repaired and funding treats and narcotics, before being shot by her romantic interest Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has often been institutionalized for fits of anger.
Preoccupation and Open Ends
Catt develops an obsession by the narrative, and I was fascinated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards accurate chronicling and daring boundary-pushing clash in this segment. Yet I wished her to delve deeper into her individual preoccupations here. The most interesting character is Brittney, who gains dimension partially because of the protagonist's connection to her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual going off the rails in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus notes that Catt speaks to Brittney in prison, but she fails to enact these dialogues. This entire part feels strangely incomplete, to the degree that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
