The Four Spent the Day Together by author Chris Kraus – A Cult Writer Ventures Into New Ground

This latest work is populated with individuals pursuing fresh starts, attempting to leave behind addictions or abusive marriages, only to find hope curdling into conflict. Chris Kraus frequently uses the phrase "clean slate", making it intentionally weary through constant reiteration. Phrases such as "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They decided to make a fresh start" appear throughout the narrative. And yet, Kraus herself appears to be undertaking her individual reinvention, since this appears a new kind of book – fact-based, truly literary. But then it reveals itself to be laden with the familiar conflicts and aesthetics as her previous works.

From Accidental Writer to Iconic Work

Kraus began as an visual artist who entered the literary world unintentionally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, made up of letters to an unreceptive lover, converting confessional female writing from humiliation into assassination. She kept producing books, but the three subsequent engaging and challenging novels lacked the shock and immediacy that the correspondence format infused into the tone of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her role as a maverick maker who had evolved into a major property owner, so there was considerable focus on property transactions. It is logical that she now wants to experiment with new kinds of material, looking outwards to the experiences of others, at a time when she asserts that current political era renders personal narrative unnecessary.

Several Eras, Shared Inescapable History

The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, encompassing three generations – each trapped by their pasts. We encounter the narrative about a couple named Emma and Jasper, representations of the author's parents, moving from the New York borough to a pastoral setting. Then there is the story of Kraus herself, in the persona of Catt Greene, reckoning with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her addict husband Paul. And there is the narrative of a homicide of one lost young man by another in a community long abandoned by liberal ideals only 80 miles from the protagonist's home in rural Minnesota.

For this reader attracted to honed writing of the type Kraus often avoids, I was seduced by the literary tone of the opening part.

As a reader who favors precise prose of the kind that Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was won over by the literary tone of the first section. There is a fresh level of observation that allows space for minutiae, like the pail that the young Catt pries out of frozen water at the opening of the book, aided by her beloved father. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she says; "a nice toy", he responds, "the nuanced interpretations of terms rolling around in their mouths like piece candy". She tells Emma's narrative with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not entirely her own."

Letdown and Fragmentation

I was destined to be disappointed when I wished this new voice could continue through the novel. Kraus says here that she is annoyed by the pleasure audiences such as myself have taken from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disjunction, to the untidy aesthetics she has in common with her idol Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her previous novels comes back in the second segment. Catt Greene is attempting to do up 36 run-down apartments in the city's most challenging districts while moving between two different states, unsuccessful in assisting Paul curb his addiction. She experiences powerlessness as Paul cycles through low-resource employment as an substance abuse counselor in a environment fueled by the rage and anxiety that powers Trump's victory. A significant portion discusses about Catt's social media ostracism on social media, her listed profession modified from "novelist" to "real estate holder" on Wikipedia. She still gives the impression to invest excessive emotion about this. At one point she says that she's researching the homicide so that before exiting the region, "she may grasp something about an the nation that her social media opponents would not understand, would not even see".

The Killing Story

Thus we arrive to the murder itself – and the eponymous day experienced by the deceased with the killer and his companions. Kraus has great source material, and reconstructs step by step what happened 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 alongside her friends, mooching around fixing his automobile and covering the cost of food and substances, before being shot by Brittney's partner Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has repeatedly received inpatient care for fits of anger.

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 ethical reporting and audacious rule-breaking wrestle in this part. However, I would have preferred her to explore more thoroughly her individual preoccupations here. The most interesting character is the character Brittney, who becomes vivid in part due to Catt seeing herself in her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual derailing in a difficult, overlooked locality. The author informs us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in jail, but she fails to enact these dialogues. This entire part feels oddly unfinished, to the degree that her narrative ends almost mid-par