A Look at The Four Spent the Day Together by Chris Kraus – A Cult Writer Ventures Into Fresh Territory

The new book centers on characters pursuing clean slates, trying to break free from substance abuse or harmful partnerships, only to see hope turn into aggression. Chris Kraus frequently uses the phrase "clean slate", making it deliberately jaded through its repetitions. Sentences like "He aimed to start over" and "They opted for a clean break" recur in the narrative. At the same time, the author herself seems to be making her individual reinvention, because this seems a new kind of book – fact-based, truly literary. Yet it reveals itself to be filled with the same dilemmas and styles as her previous works.

From Accidental Writer to Iconic Work

Kraus was originally an creative who entered the literary world unintentionally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, which was composed of missives to a distant beloved, converting confessional female writing from abjection into assassination. She persisted as a writer, but the following three compelling and abrasive novels did not possess the shock and immediacy that the correspondence format imparted to the tone of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her position as a maverick maker who had evolved into a extensive real estate holder, so there was significant attention on housing investments. It follows that she currently desires to explore fresh narrative sources, turning outward to the experiences of others, at a moment when she claims that Trumpian politics renders personal narrative unnecessary.

Several Eras, One Unescapable Past

The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, spanning several time periods – all unable to escape their histories. The book includes the story of Emma and Jasper, based on the author's parents, relocating from the New York borough to the Connecticut countryside. Additionally the story of Kraus herself, in the character of protagonist Catt Greene, reckoning with the belated success of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse a man named Paul. Finally the account of a killing of one directionless individual by another in a community long abandoned by liberal ideals only a short distance from the protagonist's home in a remote part of Minnesota.

From my perspective as a reader attracted to polished prose of the type Kraus herself often avoids, I was enchanted by the literary tone of the initial segment.

As someone who reads drawn to precise prose of the kind that the author often disregards, I was seduced by the storytelling approach of the first section. There is a new quality of attentiveness that makes room for trivial aspects, like the pail that the protagonist as a child pries out of frozen water at the beginning of the narrative, assisted by her cherished parent. "Look, an ice toy!" she declares; "a great plaything", he replies, "the ambiguous meanings of language tumbling in their mouths like hard candy". She tells Emma's story 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 wished this different style could last out the book. The author states here that she resents the enjoyment readers like me have taken from I Love Dick; she's devoted to fragmentation, to the messy artistic approach she has in common with her idol Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her past books returns in the central part. Catt is working on refurbishing multiple decrepit residences in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while shuttling between two different states, failing to help Paul curb his addiction. She feels helpless as Paul moves between underfunded jobs as an recovery specialist in a environment driven by the hostility and dread that underpins a political win. Multiple pages are devoted about Catt being cancelled on a platform, her listed profession modified from "writer" to "landlord" on the online encyclopedia. Kraus still seems to be overly concerned about this. On one occasion she states that she's researching the homicide so that before exiting the region, "she may grasp something about an the United States that her Twitter detractors would fail to comprehend, would not even see".

The Homicide Account

So then we come to the actual killing – and the titular day experienced by the deceased with the murderer and his associates. Kraus has great source material, and details moment by moment what happened when the victim Brandon came to meet Brittney after connecting via an application where she marketed explicit images. He anticipated intimacy but seems amiably to have occupied the day in the company of her associates, wandering about having his vehicle repaired and paying for snacks and drugs, before being murdered by Brittney's boyfriend Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has repeatedly received inpatient care for aggressive outbursts.

Fascination and Incompletion

Catt gets obsessed by the narrative, and I was intrigued by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards responsible documentation and daring boundary-pushing wrestle in this part. However, I would have preferred her to explore more thoroughly her personal fixations here. The standout figure is Brittney, who gains dimension partly through Catt's identification with her – another bright, bullied girl going off the rails in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus tells us that Catt converses 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