A Look at The Four Spent the Day Together from author Chris Kraus – A Cult Writer Explores New Ground

This latest work is populated with characters seeking new beginnings, attempting to leave behind substance abuse or harmful partnerships, only to see hope turn into violence. Kraus frequently uses the phrase "fresh start", rendering it deliberately jaded through recurring use. Examples include "He aimed to start over" and "They decided to make a fresh start" recur in the text. And yet, the author herself seems to be making her individual reinvention, as this appears a different type of work – fact-based, truly literary. But then it proves to be packed with the same dilemmas and aesthetics as past novels.

From Chance Novelist to Renowned Book

Kraus started out as an artist who entered the literary world unintentionally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, structured as missives to a distant beloved, transforming intimate women's literature from humiliation into assassination. She kept producing books, but the following three engaging and challenging novels lacked the shock and immediacy that the correspondence format infused into the narrative voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her position as a nonconformist creator who had become a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was much discussion on housing investments. It is logical that she now wants to experiment with fresh narrative sources, directing her gaze to other people's stories, at a time when she asserts that Trumpian politics turns intimate literature obsolete.

Multiple Generations, Collective Unavoidable Background

The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, spanning several time periods – each trapped by their backgrounds. The book includes the story of characters Emma and Jasper, versions of her own mother and father, relocating from the Bronx to a pastoral setting. There is the story of Kraus herself, in the guise of a figure named Catt Greene, grappling with the belated success of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse a man named Paul. Finally the story of the murder of one directionless individual by another in a locality largely deserted by liberal ideals only a short distance from Catt's cottage in a remote part of Minnesota.

For this reader drawn to refined literature of the type Kraus often avoids, I was captivated by the narrative style of the first section.

As a reader who appreciates honed writing of the style that the author tends to eschew, I was won over by the novelistic voice of the opening segment. It exhibits a novel degree of detail that makes room for minutiae, like the bucket that the young Catt dislodges from ice at the opening of the book, assisted by her cherished parent. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she declares; "a nice toy", he replies, "the ambiguous meanings of language tumbling in their mouths like piece candy". Kraus writes Emma's narrative with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not hers, exactly."

Disappointment and Disjunction

I was destined to be disappointed when I expected this fresh tone could last out the book. Kraus says here that she is annoyed by the enjoyment readers like me have taken from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disjunction, to the unpolished style she shares with her hero writer Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her previous novels reasserts itself in the central part. Catt is working on refurbishing three dozen dilapidated units in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while shuttling between Minnesota and LA, unable to aid her husband manage his alcohol use. She is overwhelmed as Paul transitions between poorly supported positions as an recovery specialist in a world fueled by the hostility and dread that underpins Trump's victory. There are several pages about Catt's social media ostracism on a platform, her occupation changed from "author" to "real estate holder" on the online encyclopedia. The author still appears to be overly concerned about this. In a moment she states that she's researching the homicide so that before exiting the region, "she could potentially understand something about an the nation that her online critics would be unable to grasp, would not even perceive".

The Killing Story

Thus we arrive to the actual killing – and the referenced day spent by the deceased with the murderer and his friends. The author possesses excellent raw material, and reconstructs step by step what happened when Brandon came to meet Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she offered adult photos. He was hoping for sex but seems affably to have spent the day alongside her friends, loitering getting his car mended and covering the cost of food and substances, before being killed by gunfire by her romantic interest Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has often been institutionalized for aggressive outbursts.

Fascination and Incompletion

Catt develops an obsession by the account, and I was intrigued by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards ethical reporting and daring boundary-pushing wrestle in this part. Yet I wished her to go further into her individual preoccupations here. The compelling persona is Brittney herself, who comes alive partly through the protagonist's connection to her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual going off the rails in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus tells us that Catt converses with Brittney in prison, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The complete segment feels oddly unfinished, to the degree that her narrative ends almost mid-par