Chris Kraus: The Four Spent the Day Together

Join Chris Kraus (I Love Dick), one of the pioneering literary artists of our time, as she discusses her haunting new novel.

The Four Spent the Day Together exemplifies the art of Chris Kraus, which collides the personal and fictional to generate a wholly original vision. Written in three linked parts, the novel centres upon Catt Greene, who has moved with her husband from Minnesota to Los Angeles. In a period of personal turmoil, strung out between the art world and the world of her husband's work as an addiction therapist, Greene becomes increasingly fixated on a murder case on the Iron Range of northern Minnesota, in which three teenagers murdered an older man after spending the day with him. As she descends into a true-crime obsession, and attempts to understand the minds of the perpetrators, Greene is led back to the idiosyncratic, aspirational lives of her parents in working-class Bronx and small-town, blue-collar Milford, Connecticut.

An exploration of unclaimed futures and unchosen circumstances in the age of social media, paralyzing interconnectedness, and the ever-widening gulf between the rich and poor, The Four Spent the Day Together is a landmark work in the career of one of our supreme literary artists.

ABOUT THE GUESTS:

Chris Kraus is a writer and critic whose novels include I Love Dick, Aliens & Anorexia, Torpor, and Summer of Hate. She has published three books of cultural criticism:Video Green: Los Angeles Art and the Triumph of Nothingness, Where Art Belongs, and Social Practices. I Love Dick was adapted for television, and her literary biography After Kathy Acker was published by Semiotext(e) and Penguin Press. A former Guggenheim Fellow, Kraus held the Mary Routt Chair of Writing at Scripps College in 2019 and was Writer-in-Residence at ArtCenter College between 2020–2024. Her work has been translated into seventeen languages. She lives in Los Angeles.

PLAN YOUR VISIT:

Location: Bram and Bluma Appel Salon, Toronto Reference Library (789 Yonge Street), 2nd floor

Time: Doors open 6:00pm, Event starts 7:00pm.

Tickets: Free registration required.

Ticket policy: We oversell these events to make sure that the greatest number of people have an opportunity to attend. Tickets are guaranteed until 6:45pm or until capacity is reached. Any remaining space will be opened up to the rush line beginning at 6:45pm. Seating first come, first served. Tickets do not guarantee seats.

Bar: Beer/wine available for purchase (debit/credit only).

Accessibility: TPL is committed to accessibility. If you are Deaf or have a disability and would like to request accommodation for this event, please contact accessibleservices@tpl.ca or 416-393-7099 at least three weeks prior to the event.

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This event is part of our signature Salon Series, where we host local and international authors, artists and thinkers in conversation about their new books and big ideas.