This latest work centers on protagonists chasing after clean slates, struggling to escape substance abuse or toxic relationships, only to find hope curdling into conflict. Kraus frequently uses the phrase "clean slate", rendering it willfully cynical through recurring use. Sentences like "He aimed to start over" and "They decided to make a fresh start" recur in the narrative. And yet, the author herself appears to be undertaking her personal new beginning, since this appears a new kind of book – documentarian, authentically narrative. However it turns out to be filled with the recurring issues and approaches as her previous works.
From Accidental Writer to Cult Classic
Chris Kraus was originally an creative who entered the literary world almost accidentally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, which was composed of missives to a distant beloved, converting intimate women's literature from humiliation into rebellion. She kept producing books, but the three subsequent 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 nonconformist creator who had turned into a extensive real estate holder, so there was considerable focus on housing investments. It follows that she now wants to explore new kinds of material, turning outward to the experiences of others, at a period in which she claims that contemporary political climate makes confessional writing obsolete.
Multiple Generations, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, encompassing three generations – all unable to escape their histories. We encounter the narrative about a couple named Emma and Jasper, representations of the author's parents, transitioning from the urban environment to a pastoral setting. Additionally the account of Kraus, in the persona of a figure named Catt Greene, confronting the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her addict husband her husband Paul. The third thread involves the story of the murder of one troubled youth by another in a locality long abandoned by liberal ideals only a short distance from Catt's cottage in the Minnesota countryside.
From my perspective as a reader attracted to honed writing of the kind Kraus often avoids, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the initial segment.
As a reader who favors honed writing of the kind that Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was seduced by the literary tone of the initial part. It possesses a new quality of attentiveness that makes room for small details, like the bucket that the young Catt pries out of frozen water at the beginning of the narrative, helped by her adored dad. "I found an ice toy!" she declares; "a nice toy", he responds, "the nuanced interpretations of terms rolling around in their mouths like hard 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 bound to become frustrated when I wished this fresh tone could continue through the novel. Kraus notes here that she dislikes the satisfaction those who appreciate polished prose have derived from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to fragmentation, to the untidy aesthetics she echoes from her hero author Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her previous novels returns in the middle section. The protagonist is attempting to do up multiple decrepit residences in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while moving between Minnesota and LA, unsuccessful in assisting her husband curb his addiction. She experiences powerlessness as her spouse transitions between underfunded jobs as an substance abuse counselor in a world driven by the hostility and dread that powers an electoral success. Multiple pages are devoted about the protagonist facing cancellation on a platform, her listed profession modified from "novelist" to "property owner" on a reference site. The author still appears to be overly concerned about this. In a moment she says that she's researching the homicide so that before leaving Minnesota, "she might be able to learn something about an the United States that her social media opponents would not understand, would not even perceive".
The Killing Story
Then we reach to the homicide in question – and the eponymous day experienced by the murdered individual with the killer and his associates. Kraus has compelling foundational content, and knows hour by hour what transpired when the victim Brandon came to visit Brittney after connecting via an application where she marketed explicit images. He sought a sexual encounter but seems amiably to have occupied the day alongside her friends, wandering about having his vehicle repaired and paying for snacks and drugs, before being murdered by her romantic interest a man named Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has repeatedly received inpatient care for aggressive outbursts.
Preoccupation and Open Ends
Catt develops an obsession by the account, and I was fascinated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards responsible documentation and audacious rule-breaking tussle in this section. But I'd have liked her to delve deeper into her individual preoccupations here. The most interesting character is the character Brittney, who comes alive partially because of Catt seeing herself in her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual going off the rails in a difficult, overlooked locality. Kraus notes that Catt converses with Brittney in prison, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. This entire part feels curiously unresolved, to the extent that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par
