The Four Spent the Day Together centers on individuals pursuing fresh starts, struggling to escape addictions or abusive marriages, only to see hope turn into conflict. Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "fresh start", transforming it into willfully cynical through constant reiteration. Examples include "He could make a fresh start" and "They chose to begin anew" appear throughout the story. And yet, Kraus herself appears to be undertaking her individual reinvention, because this seems a novel form of writing – documentarian, genuinely novelistic. Yet it turns out to be packed with the same dilemmas and styles as earlier books.
From Unplanned Author to Iconic Work
Chris Kraus started out as an creative who transitioned to writing almost accidentally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, structured as missives to a distant beloved, elevating intimate women's literature from humiliation into rebellion. She persisted as a writer, but the following three compelling and abrasive novels lacked the impact and rawness that the correspondence format infused into the narrative voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her role as a maverick maker who had evolved into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was considerable focus on real estate deals. It is logical that she currently desires to explore fresh narrative sources, looking outwards to the experiences of others, at a time when she claims that current political era turns intimate literature unnecessary.
Several Eras, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, spanning multiple eras – all unable to escape their histories. We encounter the story of characters Emma and Jasper, based on the author's parents, relocating from the New York borough to the Connecticut countryside. Then there is the story of Kraus herself, in the guise of protagonist Catt Greene, reckoning with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her addict husband Paul. The third thread involves the story of the murder of one troubled youth by another in a town mostly forsaken by liberal ideals only a short distance from Catt's rural residence in a remote part of Minnesota.
From my perspective as a reader drawn to polished prose of the type Kraus tends to eschew, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the first section.
As someone who reads who appreciates crafted language of the variety that the author usually avoids, I was seduced by the storytelling approach of the opening segment. There is a novel degree of detail that allows space for small details, like the pail that the young Catt frees from the ice at the beginning of the narrative, aided by her cherished parent. "Look, an ice toy!" she says; "a lovely toy", he responds, "the ambiguous meanings of language rolling around in their mouths like piece candy". Kraus writes the tale of Emma with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not hers, exactly."
Frustration and Disruption
I was destined to be disappointed when I expected this new voice could last out the book. Kraus says here that she is annoyed by the pleasure audiences such as myself have derived from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disruption, to the messy artistic approach she shares with her idol writer Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her earlier works reasserts itself in the middle section. The protagonist is working on refurbishing 36 run-down apartments in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while moving between two different states, failing to help Paul manage his alcohol use. She is overwhelmed as her spouse transitions between poorly supported positions as an substance abuse counselor in a society driven by the anger and fear that powers Trump's victory. Multiple pages are devoted about Catt's social media ostracism on a platform, her professional designation altered from "novelist" to "landlord" on a reference site. She still gives the impression to invest excessive emotion 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 the nation that her Twitter detractors would be unable to grasp, would overlook entirely".
The Murder Narrative
Then we reach to the homicide in question – and the eponymous day spent by the victim with the killer and his companions. Kraus has great source material, and knows hour by hour what transpired when the victim Brandon came to visit Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she marketed explicit images. He sought a sexual encounter but seems amiably to have occupied the day with her companions, loitering fixing his automobile and paying for snacks and drugs, before being shot by her romantic interest a man named Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has often been institutionalized for fits of anger.
Fascination and Incompletion
The protagonist becomes fixated by the account, and I was intrigued by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards ethical reporting and reckless transgression tussle in this section. However, I would have preferred her to go further into her individual preoccupations here. The compelling persona is Brittney herself, who gains dimension in part due to Catt's identification with her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual derailing in a troubled, forgotten town. The author informs us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in prison, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The complete segment feels strangely incomplete, to the extent that her narrative ends almost mid-par
