The Four Spent the Day Together features protagonists seeking new beginnings, attempting to leave behind drugs or toxic relationships, only to witness hope devolve into aggression. Chris Kraus frequently uses the phrase "fresh start", transforming it into intentionally weary through its repetitions. Phrases such as "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They chose to begin anew" recur in the narrative. Meanwhile, the author herself appears to be undertaking her own fresh start, since this appears a novel form of writing – fact-based, truly literary. Yet it turns out to be packed with the recurring issues and approaches as past novels.
From Unplanned Author to Iconic Work
Chris Kraus was originally an visual artist who entered the literary world unintentionally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, structured as missives to a distant beloved, elevating personal female narrative from self-debasement into rebellion. She continued writing, but the three subsequent engaging and challenging novels missed the impact and rawness that the epistolary style brought to the tone of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her role as a renegade artist who had turned into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was much discussion on property transactions. It makes sense that she currently desires to try out fresh narrative sources, turning outward to the experiences of others, at a time when she states that current political era renders personal narrative unnecessary.
Several Eras, Collective Unavoidable Background
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, covering three generations – none able to break free from their pasts. We encounter the story of characters Emma and Jasper, versions of Kraus's parents, relocating from the New York borough to rural Connecticut. Then there is the account of Kraus, in the guise of Catt Greene, grappling with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse Paul. Finally the narrative of a homicide of one lost young man by another in a town mostly forsaken by progressive politics only 80 miles from Catt's rural residence in rural Minnesota.
For this reader fond of honed writing of the sort Kraus herself typically rejects, I was captivated by the literary tone of the initial segment.
Being a reader who appreciates precise prose of the style that Kraus herself often disregards, I was captivated by the literary tone of the initial part. It possesses a fresh level of observation that allows space for trivial aspects, like the pail that the young Catt dislodges from ice at the start of the story, helped by her cherished parent. "I found an ice toy!" she says; "a lovely toy", he responds, "the elliptical meanings of words rolling around in their mouths like hard candy". She tells Emma's narrative with inquiry and familiarity. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not hers, exactly."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was bound to become frustrated when I expected this fresh tone could last out the book. Kraus says here that she is annoyed by the enjoyment audiences such as myself have gotten from I Love Dick; she's committed to disruption, to the untidy aesthetics she echoes from her idol writer Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her past books reasserts itself in the central part. The protagonist is trying to renovate 36 run-down apartments in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while shuttling between the Midwest and the West Coast, unsuccessful in assisting her husband curb his addiction. She is overwhelmed as Paul transitions between poorly supported positions as an addiction therapist in a world propelled by the anger and fear that powers an electoral success. A significant portion discusses about the protagonist facing cancellation on Twitter, her listed profession modified from "author" to "landlord" on Wikipedia. The author still appears to care a little too much about this. On one occasion she remarks that she's researching the homicide so that before departing the state, "she could potentially understand something about an America that her online critics would fail to comprehend, would not even see".
The Homicide Account
So then we come to the homicide in question – and the titular day experienced by the deceased with the perpetrator and his friends. Kraus has great source material, and reconstructs step by step what occurred as Brandon came to meet Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she marketed explicit images. He was hoping for sex but appears congenially to have passed the day alongside her friends, loitering getting his car mended and funding treats and narcotics, before being murdered by her romantic interest Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has repeatedly received inpatient care for violent rage.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
Catt gets obsessed by the narrative, and I found myself captivated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards accurate chronicling and audacious rule-breaking tussle in this section. But I'd have liked her to delve deeper into her individual preoccupations here. The standout figure is the character Brittney, who comes alive partially because of Catt's identification with her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman spiraling out of control in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus tells us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in jail, but she fails to enact these dialogues. This entire part feels oddly unfinished, to the extent that her narrative ends almost mid-par
