The Four Spent the Day Together from author Chris Kraus – A Renowned Writer Attempts Something New

The Four Spent the Day Together is populated with protagonists seeking new beginnings, trying to break free from addictions or abusive marriages, only to see hope turn into aggression. Chris Kraus often employs the phrase "fresh start", transforming it into deliberately jaded through its repetitions. Examples include "He could make a fresh start" and "They decided to make a fresh start" recur in the text. At the same time, the author herself appears to be undertaking her individual reinvention, since this seems a novel form of writing – fact-based, authentically narrative. Yet it turns out to be packed with the familiar conflicts and aesthetics as her previous works.

From Accidental Writer to Renowned Book

The writer started out as an creative who transitioned to writing somewhat by chance with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, which was composed of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, elevating personal female narrative from abjection into defiance. She continued writing, but the next trio of fascinating and rebarbative novels missed the impact and rawness that the letter form imparted to the tone of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her identity as a renegade artist who had evolved into a major property owner, so there was significant attention on real estate deals. It makes sense that she presently aims to explore new kinds of material, looking outwards to the experiences of others, at a moment when she claims that contemporary political climate makes confessional writing redundant.

Three Generations, Shared Inescapable History

The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, encompassing multiple eras – none able to break free from their backgrounds. There is the narrative about characters Emma and Jasper, based on Kraus's parents, relocating from the Bronx to a pastoral setting. There is the account of Kraus, in the guise of protagonist Catt Greene, grappling with the belated success of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse Paul. Finally the account of a killing of one lost young man by another in a community largely deserted by liberal ideals only a brief drive from the protagonist's home in rural Minnesota.

From my perspective as a reader attracted to refined literature of the kind Kraus tends to eschew, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the initial segment.

As someone who reads who appreciates crafted language of the kind that Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the opening segment. It possesses a fresh level of observation that makes room for small details, like the pail that the youthful Catt frees from the ice at the opening of the book, aided by her beloved father. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she exclaims; "a nice toy", he replies, "the elliptical meanings of words rolling around in their mouths like piece candy". The author narrates Emma's story with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not precisely her dream."

Letdown and Fragmentation

I was fated to feel let down when I expected this different style could last out the book. The author states here that she resents the satisfaction readers like me have derived from I Love Dick; she's committed to fragmentation, to the messy artistic approach she shares with her hero author Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her earlier works reasserts itself in the middle section. Catt Greene is trying to renovate multiple decrepit residences in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while traveling between Minnesota and LA, failing to help Paul control his drinking. She is overwhelmed as her spouse transitions between poorly supported positions as an recovery specialist in a world driven by the rage and anxiety that powers Trump's victory. A significant portion discusses about Catt's social media ostracism on Twitter, her professional designation altered from "author" to "real estate holder" on Wikipedia. She still gives the impression to be overly concerned about this. In a moment she remarks that she's researching the homicide so that before exiting the region, "she could potentially understand something about an America that her Twitter detractors would fail to comprehend, would overlook entirely".

The Killing Story

Thus we arrive to the actual killing – and the referenced day passed by the deceased with the murderer and his companions. Kraus has compelling foundational content, and details moment by moment what transpired when a man named Brandon came to meet Brittney after meeting her on an app where she marketed explicit images. He sought a sexual encounter but appears congenially to have passed the day alongside her friends, loitering fixing his automobile and covering the cost of food and substances, before being shot by Brittney's partner Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has often been institutionalized for fits of anger.

Fascination and Incompletion

The protagonist becomes fixated by the story, and I found myself captivated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards ethical reporting and reckless transgression clash in this segment. 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 in part due to the protagonist's connection to her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman derailing in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus tells us that Catt converses with Brittney in prison, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. This entire part feels oddly unfinished, to the point that her narrative ends almost mid-par