The Four Spent the Day Together from author Chris Kraus – A Cult Writer Ventures Into New Ground

This latest work features protagonists seeking clean slates, trying to break free from drugs or abusive marriages, only to find hope curdling into conflict. Kraus frequently uses the phrase "fresh start", making it deliberately jaded through constant reiteration. Phrases such as "He aimed to start over" and "They decided to make a fresh start" recur in the story. Meanwhile, the author herself seems to be making her own fresh start, since this appears a novel form of writing – documentarian, genuinely novelistic. However it turns out to be laden with the same dilemmas and styles as earlier books.

From Accidental Writer to Iconic Work

Chris Kraus started out as an creative who became a writer almost accidentally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, which was composed of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, elevating intimate women's literature from self-debasement into assassination. She continued writing, but the three subsequent engaging and challenging novels lacked the power and directness that the epistolary style imparted to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her role as a renegade artist who had turned into a extensive real estate holder, so there was significant attention on property transactions. It follows that she now wants to try out new kinds of material, directing her gaze to the experiences of others, at a time when she claims that contemporary political climate turns intimate literature obsolete.

Three Generations, One Unescapable Past

The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, encompassing three generations – none able to break free from their histories. There is the tale of characters Emma and Jasper, versions of Kraus's parents, moving from the urban environment to a pastoral setting. Then there is the narrative of the author, in the character of a figure named Catt Greene, confronting the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse her husband Paul. Finally the narrative of a homicide of one directionless individual by another in a community largely deserted by forward-thinking policies only a short distance from the protagonist's home in the Minnesota countryside.

For this reader attracted to refined literature of the kind Kraus herself often avoids, I was enchanted by the literary tone of the initial segment.

As a reader who appreciates honed writing of the kind that Kraus tends to eschew, I was won over by the storytelling approach of the first section. It possesses a novel degree of detail that accommodates minutiae, like the pail that the protagonist as a child pries out of frozen water at the beginning of the narrative, helped by her adored dad. "Look, an ice toy!" she declares; "a nice toy", he replies, "the elliptical meanings of words tumbling in their mouths like piece candy". Kraus writes Emma's story with inquiry and familiarity. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not precisely her dream."

Letdown and Fragmentation

I was bound to become frustrated when I hoped this new voice could persist to the end. Kraus notes here that she resents the enjoyment audiences such as myself have taken from I Love Dick; she's committed to fragmentation, to the messy artistic approach she echoes from her inspiration author Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her earlier works reasserts itself in the second segment. The protagonist is working on refurbishing multiple decrepit residences in the city's most challenging districts while moving between two different states, unsuccessful in assisting Paul curb his addiction. She is overwhelmed as Paul cycles through poorly supported positions as an substance abuse counselor in a environment propelled by the anger and fear that powers a political win. There are several pages about Catt being cancelled on a platform, her professional designation altered from "author" to "landlord" on the online encyclopedia. Kraus still seems to be overly concerned 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 nation that her social media opponents would fail to comprehend, would not even perceive".

The Homicide Account

Thus we arrive to the homicide in question – and the referenced day spent by the murdered individual with the perpetrator and his associates. The author possesses great source material, and details moment by moment what happened when the victim Brandon came to see Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she offered adult photos. He sought a sexual encounter but seems amiably to have occupied the day with her companions, loitering having his vehicle repaired and covering the cost of food and substances, before being shot by Brittney's partner Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has repeatedly received inpatient care for violent rage.

Obsession and Unfinished Business

Catt gets obsessed by the narrative, and I was intrigued by the way that her twin drives towards accurate chronicling and reckless transgression wrestle in this part. But I'd have liked her to go further into her personal fixations here. The standout figure is Brittney, who comes alive partially because of Catt seeing herself in her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman going off the rails in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus tells us that Catt speaks to Brittney in prison, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The complete segment feels strangely incomplete, to the point that her narrative ends almost mid-par