🔗 Share this article

The Four Spent the Day Together features characters seeking fresh starts, trying to break free from drugs or toxic relationships, only to find hope curdling into conflict. Chris Kraus frequently uses the phrase "clean slate", making it willfully cynical through its repetitions. Examples include "He aimed to start over" and "They chose to begin anew" are scattered across the text. And yet, she seems to be making her personal new beginning, as this appears a new kind of book – fact-based, authentically narrative. However it proves to be packed with the same dilemmas and aesthetics as her previous works.

From Chance Novelist to Iconic Work

Kraus started out as an visual artist who became a writer somewhat by chance with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, structured as letters to an unreceptive lover, converting intimate women's literature from abjection into defiance. She continued writing, but the three subsequent fascinating and rebarbative novels missed the power and directness that the correspondence format imparted to the voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her identity as a maverick maker who had become a major property owner, so there was considerable focus on real estate deals. It makes sense that she currently desires to experiment with new kinds of material, looking outwards to external narratives, at a moment when she states that contemporary political climate turns intimate literature redundant.

Three Generations, One Unescapable Past

The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, covering three generations – all unable to escape their histories. The book includes the story of Emma and Jasper, based on her own mother and father, transitioning from the New York borough to rural Connecticut. Additionally the account of Kraus, in the persona of protagonist Catt Greene, reckoning with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her addict husband her husband Paul. The third thread involves the story of the murder of one troubled youth by another in a community long abandoned by progressive politics only 80 miles from Catt's rural residence in the Minnesota countryside.

From my perspective as a reader attracted to refined literature of the sort Kraus herself typically rejects, I was captivated by the literary tone of the opening part.

Being a reader who appreciates crafted language of the kind that Kraus tends to eschew, I was captivated by the storytelling approach of the initial part. There is a novel degree of detail that accommodates trivial aspects, like the pail that the young Catt frees from the ice at the opening of the book, aided by her beloved father. "Look, an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a great plaything", he responds, "the elliptical meanings of words circulating in their speech like piece candy". The author narrates the tale of Emma with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not hers, exactly."

Disappointment and Disjunction

I was bound to become frustrated when I hoped this new voice could last out the book. Kraus notes here that she is annoyed by the enjoyment those who appreciate polished prose have derived from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disruption, to the unpolished style she echoes from her inspiration writer Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her earlier works returns in the middle section. The protagonist is trying to renovate multiple decrepit residences in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while moving between the Midwest and the West Coast, unsuccessful in assisting Paul control his drinking. She experiences powerlessness as Paul transitions between poorly supported positions as an recovery specialist in a society fueled by the hostility and dread that drives Trump's victory. A significant portion discusses about the protagonist facing cancellation on Twitter, her occupation changed from "writer" to "real estate holder" on Wikipedia. Kraus still seems to invest excessive emotion about this. In a moment she states that she's researching the homicide so that before departing the state, "she might be able to learn something about an America that her Twitter detractors would be unable to grasp, would overlook entirely".

The Homicide Account

So then we come to the murder itself – and the titular day spent by the victim with the perpetrator and his associates. Kraus has great source material, and reconstructs step by step what transpired when the victim Brandon came to see Brittney after meeting her on an app where she offered adult photos. He sought a sexual encounter but appears congenially to have passed the day with her companions, mooching around having his vehicle repaired and paying for snacks and drugs, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's partner Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has frequently been hospitalised for aggressive outbursts.

Obsession and Unfinished Business

Catt develops an obsession by the account, and I found myself captivated by the way that her twin drives towards ethical reporting and audacious rule-breaking wrestle in this part. Yet I wished her to explore more thoroughly her own obsessions here. The most interesting character is Brittney herself, who becomes vivid partially because of Catt seeing herself in her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman going off the rails in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus tells us that Catt speaks to Brittney in jail, but she fails to enact these dialogues. This entire part feels oddly unfinished, to the point that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par