This latest work is populated with characters chasing after clean slates, attempting to leave behind drugs or abusive marriages, only to see hope turn into aggression. The author frequently uses the phrase "clean slate", rendering it intentionally weary through recurring use. Sentences like "He aimed to start over" and "They chose to begin anew" recur in the narrative. Meanwhile, Kraus herself is embarking on her personal new beginning, because this presents as a different type of work – observational, truly literary. But then it turns out to be laden with the recurring issues and aesthetics as past novels.
From Accidental Writer to Renowned Book
Chris Kraus was originally an artist who entered the literary world somewhat by chance with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, which was composed of missives to a distant beloved, converting personal female narrative from self-debasement into rebellion. She continued writing, but the three subsequent engaging and challenging novels lacked the impact and rawness that the correspondence format imparted to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her identity as a nonconformist creator who had become a extensive real estate holder, so there was much discussion on housing investments. It follows that she currently desires to experiment with different types of content, looking outwards to external narratives, at a moment when she claims that contemporary political climate renders personal narrative redundant.
Three Generations, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, spanning three generations – each trapped by their backgrounds. We encounter the tale of Emma and Jasper, representations of Kraus's parents, relocating from the Bronx to a pastoral setting. Additionally the narrative of the author, in the character of Catt Greene, reckoning with the belated success of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her addict husband Paul. And there is the account of a killing of one directionless individual by another in a town mostly forsaken by forward-thinking policies only a short distance from Catt's rural residence in a remote part of Minnesota.
From my perspective as a reader drawn to refined literature of the sort the author herself typically rejects, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the opening part.
Being a reader drawn to crafted language of the variety that the author often disregards, I was won over by the storytelling approach of the first section. It possesses a fresh level of observation that accommodates minutiae, like the container that the young Catt pries out of frozen water at the start of the story, aided by her adored dad. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she declares; "a nice toy", he responds, "the ambiguous meanings of language circulating in their speech like piece candy". She tells Emma's narrative 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 hoped this different style could continue through the novel. Kraus notes here that she resents the satisfaction readers like me have derived from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disjunction, to the unpolished style she has in common with her idol Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her past books comes back in the middle section. Catt Greene is attempting to do up three dozen dilapidated units in the city's most challenging districts while traveling between two different states, failing to help her husband control his drinking. She is overwhelmed as her spouse moves between poorly supported positions as an recovery specialist in a world propelled by the rage and anxiety that underpins an electoral success. A significant portion discusses about Catt being cancelled on Twitter, her occupation changed from "author" to "landlord" on Wikipedia. The author still appears to be overly concerned about this. At one point she remarks that she's researching the homicide so that before exiting the region, "she might be able to learn something about an the United States that her Twitter detractors would not understand, would overlook entirely".
The Murder Narrative
Thus we arrive to the actual killing – and the referenced day passed by the deceased with the perpetrator and his friends. Kraus has great source material, and knows hour by hour what transpired when a man named Brandon came to visit Brittney after meeting her on an app where she sold sex pictures. He anticipated intimacy but appears congenially to have passed the day alongside her friends, loitering having his vehicle repaired and paying for snacks and drugs, before being murdered by Brittney's partner a man named Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has repeatedly received inpatient care for violent rage.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
Catt gets obsessed by the narrative, and I was fascinated by the way that her twin drives towards accurate chronicling and reckless transgression clash in this segment. But I'd have liked her to explore more thoroughly her individual preoccupations here. The compelling persona is Brittney, who gains dimension in part due to Catt's identification with her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual derailing in a difficult, overlooked locality. Kraus notes that Catt speaks to Brittney in prison, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The whole section feels curiously unresolved, to the extent that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
