This latest work centers on individuals chasing after clean slates, struggling to escape drugs or toxic relationships, only to witness hope devolve into violence. The author repeatedly invokes the phrase "clean slate", rendering it deliberately jaded through recurring use. Sentences like "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They decided to make a fresh start" appear throughout the text. Meanwhile, Kraus herself appears to be undertaking her personal new beginning, as this appears a new kind of book – fact-based, genuinely novelistic. Yet it turns out to be packed with the same dilemmas and styles as earlier books.
From Accidental Writer to Iconic Work
Chris Kraus began as an creative who transitioned to writing almost accidentally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, made up of missives to a distant beloved, elevating confessional female writing from self-debasement into defiance. She kept producing books, but the following three engaging and challenging novels did not possess the power and directness that the letter form brought to the tone of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her identity 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 currently desires to try out different types of content, directing her gaze to external narratives, at a moment when she claims that Trumpian politics renders personal narrative obsolete.
Several Eras, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, encompassing multiple eras – none able to break free from their histories. The book includes the narrative about Emma and Jasper, representations of Kraus's parents, transitioning from the urban environment to rural Connecticut. Additionally the story of Kraus herself, in the character of protagonist Catt Greene, grappling with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse a man named Paul. Finally the story of the murder of one troubled youth by another in a locality long abandoned by progressive politics only a brief drive from the protagonist's home in the Minnesota countryside.
As a reader attracted to polished prose of the kind Kraus tends to eschew, I was enchanted by the literary tone of the initial segment.
As someone who reads drawn to precise prose of the style that the author often disregards, I was seduced by the literary tone of the opening segment. It possesses a new quality of attentiveness that makes room for small details, like the bucket that the protagonist as a child dislodges from ice at the beginning of the narrative, assisted by her beloved father. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she declares; "a great plaything", he responds, "the nuanced interpretations of terms tumbling in their mouths like sweet treats". Kraus writes the tale of Emma with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not precisely her dream."
Frustration and Disruption
I was destined to be disappointed when I expected this fresh tone could last out the book. The author states here that she dislikes the pleasure readers like me have gotten from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disruption, to the untidy aesthetics she has in common with her hero author Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her past books returns in the central part. The protagonist is attempting to do up three dozen dilapidated units in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while moving between Minnesota and LA, failing to help Paul manage his alcohol use. She is overwhelmed as Paul moves between poorly supported positions as an recovery specialist in a environment propelled by the hostility and dread that powers a political win. A significant portion discusses about the protagonist facing cancellation on social media, her listed profession modified from "writer" to "property owner" on a reference site. She still gives the impression to care a little too much about this. In a moment she states that she's investigating the murder so that before leaving Minnesota, "she might be able to learn something about an the United States that her online critics would not understand, would overlook entirely".
The Killing Story
So then we come to the murder itself – and the referenced day spent by the victim with the murderer and his associates. Kraus has compelling foundational content, and details moment by moment what transpired when Brandon came to see Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she marketed explicit images. He anticipated intimacy but appears congenially to have passed the day with her companions, mooching around getting his car mended and funding treats and narcotics, before being shot by her romantic interest Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has often been institutionalized for violent rage.
Preoccupation and Open Ends
Catt develops an obsession by the account, and I found myself captivated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards responsible documentation and audacious rule-breaking wrestle in this part. But I'd have liked her to delve deeper into her own obsessions here. The most interesting character is Brittney herself, who becomes vivid in part due to Catt seeing herself in her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual spiraling out of control in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus notes that Catt speaks to Brittney in prison, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The complete segment feels strangely incomplete, to the extent that her narrative ends almost mid-par
