A Look at The Four Spent the Day Together by author Chris Kraus – A Renowned Writer Attempts Fresh Territory
The new book centers on characters pursuing clean slates, attempting to leave behind addictions or abusive marriages, only to see hope turn into violence. Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "clean slate", transforming it into intentionally weary through constant reiteration. Examples include "He aimed to start over" and "They decided to make a fresh start" recur in the story. Meanwhile, Kraus herself appears to be undertaking her individual reinvention, as this seems a novel form of writing – documentarian, genuinely novelistic. Yet it reveals itself to be laden with the recurring issues and aesthetics as earlier books.
From Accidental Writer to Cult Classic
The writer was originally an visual artist who entered the literary world somewhat by chance with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, made up of missives to a distant beloved, transforming intimate women's literature from humiliation into defiance. She kept producing books, but the next trio of compelling and abrasive novels missed the impact and rawness that the letter form brought to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her identity as a maverick maker who had evolved into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was much discussion on property transactions. It is logical that she now wants to try out new kinds of material, turning outward to the experiences of others, at a time when she states that current political era makes confessional writing unnecessary.
Several Eras, Collective Unavoidable Background
The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, encompassing three generations – all unable to escape their histories. There is the tale of characters Emma and Jasper, based on Kraus's parents, transitioning from the urban environment to the Connecticut countryside. Additionally the account of Kraus, in the guise of a figure named Catt Greene, grappling with the belated success of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction a man named Paul. Finally the narrative of a homicide of one directionless individual by another in a community mostly forsaken by progressive politics only a short distance from Catt's cottage in rural Minnesota.
From my perspective as a reader drawn to refined literature of the sort the author herself often avoids, I was enchanted by the literary tone of the first section.
As a reader who favors honed writing of the variety that Kraus herself usually avoids, I was seduced by the storytelling approach of the initial part. It possesses a fresh level of observation that allows space for small details, like the container that the youthful Catt frees from the ice at the start of the story, aided by her cherished parent. "I found an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a lovely toy", he replies, "the nuanced interpretations of terms circulating in their speech like hard candy". The author narrates the tale of Emma with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not precisely her dream."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was bound to become frustrated when I hoped this different style could persist to the end. Kraus notes here that she dislikes the enjoyment readers like me have taken from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to fragmentation, to the messy artistic approach she has in common with her inspiration Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her earlier works comes back in the second segment. Catt is attempting to do up three dozen dilapidated units in the city's most challenging districts while moving between Minnesota and LA, unable to aid Paul manage his alcohol use. She feels helpless as her spouse transitions between poorly supported positions as an recovery specialist in a environment driven by the hostility and dread that drives an electoral success. A significant portion discusses about the protagonist facing cancellation on Twitter, her professional designation altered from "novelist" to "real estate holder" on Wikipedia. The author still appears to invest excessive emotion about this. In a moment she remarks that she's investigating the murder so that before exiting the region, "she may grasp something about an the United States that her Twitter detractors would be unable to grasp, would not even perceive".
The Homicide Account
Then we reach to the homicide in question – and the referenced day experienced by the murdered individual with the murderer and his associates. Kraus utilizes great source material, and details moment by moment what happened when a man named 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 with her companions, mooching around having his vehicle repaired and paying for snacks and drugs, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's boyfriend a man named Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has often been institutionalized for violent rage.
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 reckless transgression wrestle in this part. However, I would have preferred her to explore more thoroughly her individual preoccupations here. The compelling persona is Brittney, who comes alive partly through the protagonist's connection to her – another bright, bullied girl derailing in a difficult, overlooked locality. Kraus notes that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in jail, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The whole section feels strangely incomplete, to the extent that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par