The Four Spent the Day Together centers on individuals pursuing clean slates, attempting to leave behind substance abuse or harmful partnerships, only to see hope turn into violence. Chris Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "new beginning", rendering it willfully cynical through its repetitions. Examples include "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They chose to begin anew" appear throughout the narrative. And yet, Kraus herself is embarking on her own fresh start, because this appears a novel form of writing – observational, truly literary. However it turns out to be packed with the recurring issues and approaches as past novels.
From Chance Novelist to Iconic Work
Chris Kraus started out as an artist who entered the literary world unintentionally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, which was composed of missives to a distant beloved, elevating confessional female writing from abjection into rebellion. She persisted as a writer, but the three subsequent fascinating and rebarbative novels missed the shock and immediacy that the letter form brought to the voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her identity as a maverick maker who had evolved into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was significant attention on real estate deals. It is logical that she currently desires to experiment with fresh narrative sources, turning outward to the experiences of others, at a moment when she states that current political era turns intimate literature obsolete.
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. The book includes the story of Emma and Jasper, representations of Kraus's parents, relocating from the New York borough to a pastoral setting. Then there is the account of Kraus, in the character of a figure named Catt Greene, grappling with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her addict husband her husband Paul. Finally the story of the murder of one troubled youth by another in a locality largely deserted by liberal ideals only a short distance from Catt's rural residence in the Minnesota countryside.
For this reader drawn to polished prose of the kind Kraus herself typically rejects, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the first section.
As a reader who favors honed writing of the kind that Kraus herself often disregards, I was seduced by the storytelling approach of the opening segment. There is a novel degree of detail that makes room for minutiae, like the pail that the protagonist as a child dislodges from ice at the beginning of the narrative, helped by her adored dad. "I found an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a great plaything", he replies, "the elliptical meanings of words circulating in their speech like sweet treats". She tells Emma's narrative with interest and closeness. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not precisely her dream."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was destined to be disappointed when I expected this fresh tone could last out the book. Kraus notes here that she dislikes the satisfaction readers like me have derived from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disruption, to the untidy aesthetics she has in common with her idol writer Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her earlier works reasserts itself in the middle section. The protagonist is working on refurbishing three dozen dilapidated units in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while shuttling between two different states, unsuccessful in assisting Paul curb his addiction. She feels helpless as Paul moves between low-resource employment as an recovery specialist in a world propelled by the rage and anxiety that underpins Trump's victory. A significant portion discusses about Catt being cancelled on a platform, her professional designation altered from "author" to "real estate holder" on the online encyclopedia. The author still appears to be overly concerned about this. At one point she remarks that she's investigating the murder so that before leaving Minnesota, "she could potentially understand something about an the nation that her Twitter detractors would not understand, would overlook entirely".
The Murder Narrative
So then we come to the actual killing – and the eponymous day experienced by the deceased with the killer and his associates. Kraus utilizes compelling foundational content, and knows hour by hour what transpired when Brandon came to meet Brittney after meeting her on an app where she sold sex pictures. He anticipated intimacy but seems amiably to have occupied the day alongside her friends, wandering about fixing his automobile and covering the cost of food and substances, before being killed by gunfire by her romantic interest a man named Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has often been institutionalized for violent rage.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
Catt develops an obsession by the account, and I was fascinated by the way that her twin drives towards accurate chronicling and reckless transgression clash in this segment. However, I would have preferred her to go further into her individual preoccupations here. The most interesting character is the character Brittney, who becomes vivid in part due to the protagonist's connection to her – another bright, bullied girl going off the rails in a difficult, overlooked locality. Kraus tells us that Catt speaks to Brittney in detention, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The complete segment feels oddly unfinished, to the point that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
