This latest work features protagonists pursuing new beginnings, attempting to leave behind drugs or abusive marriages, only to see hope turn into conflict. Chris Kraus often employs the phrase "new beginning", transforming it into willfully cynical through recurring use. Examples include "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They chose to begin anew" recur in the narrative. And yet, Kraus herself appears to be undertaking her personal new beginning, as this appears a novel form of writing – observational, genuinely novelistic. Yet it proves to be filled with the recurring issues and styles as her previous works.
From Unplanned Author to Renowned Book
Chris Kraus began as an artist who entered the literary world somewhat by chance with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, which was composed of letters to an unreceptive lover, converting intimate women's literature from humiliation into defiance. She persisted as a writer, but the following three engaging and challenging novels missed the impact and rawness that the epistolary style imparted to the voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her role as a maverick maker who had evolved into a major property owner, so there was significant attention on housing investments. It makes sense that she presently aims to explore fresh narrative sources, turning outward to the experiences of others, at a time when she claims that current political era makes confessional writing obsolete.
Three Generations, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, covering several time periods – none able to break free from their histories. We encounter the narrative about characters Emma and Jasper, versions of the author's parents, relocating from the New York borough to rural Connecticut. Then there is the narrative of the author, in the guise of a figure named Catt Greene, grappling with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her addict husband Paul. The third thread involves the narrative of a homicide of one lost young man by another in a locality largely deserted by forward-thinking policies only a short distance from the protagonist's home in the Minnesota countryside.
From my perspective as a reader attracted to honed writing of the kind Kraus herself often avoids, I was enchanted by the literary tone of the first section.
As a reader drawn to honed writing of the variety that the author often disregards, I was won over by the novelistic voice of the initial part. It possesses a fresh level of observation that accommodates trivial aspects, like the container that the youthful Catt dislodges from ice at the opening of the book, assisted by her beloved father. "I found an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a great plaything", he replies, "the elliptical meanings of words tumbling in their mouths like sweet treats". Kraus writes Emma's story with curiosity and intimacy. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not hers, exactly."
Letdown and Fragmentation
I was destined to be disappointed when I expected this different style could persist to the end. Kraus says here that she resents the pleasure those who appreciate polished prose have derived from I Love Dick; she's committed to disjunction, to the untidy aesthetics she has in common with her hero author Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her past books comes back in the central part. Catt Greene is attempting to do up 36 run-down apartments in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while traveling between Minnesota and LA, failing to help Paul manage his alcohol use. She feels helpless as her spouse transitions between underfunded jobs as an substance abuse counselor in a environment driven by the rage and anxiety that underpins Trump's victory. Multiple pages are devoted about Catt being cancelled on social media, her listed profession modified from "novelist" to "property owner" on the online encyclopedia. She still gives the impression to invest excessive emotion about this. At one point she remarks that she's investigating the murder so that before departing the state, "she might be able to learn something about an the nation that her social media opponents would be unable to grasp, would overlook entirely".
The Murder Narrative
Thus we arrive to the actual killing – and the referenced day passed by the deceased with the killer and his companions. Kraus has excellent raw material, and knows hour by hour what happened when Brandon came to meet Brittney after meeting her on an app where she marketed explicit images. He sought a sexual encounter but seems affably to have spent the day with her companions, wandering about having his vehicle repaired and covering the cost of food and substances, before being murdered by her romantic interest Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has frequently been hospitalised for fits of anger.
Fascination and Incompletion
Catt develops an obsession by the narrative, and I was intrigued by the way that her twin drives towards accurate chronicling and audacious rule-breaking clash in this segment. But I'd have liked her to explore more thoroughly her individual preoccupations here. The standout figure is Brittney, who becomes vivid partially because of Catt's identification with her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual spiraling out of control in a difficult, overlooked locality. The author informs us that Catt speaks to Brittney in detention, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The whole section feels oddly unfinished, to the point that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
