Otherppl with Brad Listi

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1004. Chris Kraus

Nov 11, 2025

Guest

Chris Kraus

Chris Kraus, writer and critic known for I Love Dick and The Four Spent the Day Together, discusses a true crime seed that grew into a meditation on American history. She probes a prolonged murder, addiction, homelessness, and the rural‑urban divide. Conversations range from autofiction risks and book structure to Twitter backlash, property as livelihood, and caregiving in the orbit of addiction.

01:22:26

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insights

INSIGHT

Mobility Is Banded By Region

Phil A. Neel's Hinterlands idea shows Americans move only within socio-economic bandwidths, trapping communities.
Kraus uses this to explain why hinterland residents rarely migrate into urban opportunity zones.

insights

INSIGHT

Where You Are Shapes What You Notice

Kraus intentionally makes Kat discover the crime while in northern Minnesota to link personal geography and psychic place.
Location anchors how a writer becomes obsessed and why certain stories reach them.

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ANECDOTE

Cancellation Became A Plot Point

Kraus was 'canceled' multiple times after I Love Dick's adaptation and public revelations about property ownership.
The Twitter attacks focused on her landlording and became a recurring public controversy.

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Why Kraus Chose a True Crime Seed

01:28 • 16min

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The Durational Horror of the Murder

17:00 • 4min

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How Kraus Got Drawn to the Iron Range

Why the Crime Felt Unanswerable

25:42 • 2min

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Lives Marked by Addiction and Homelessness

27:15 • 3min

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Hinterlands: Economic and Geographic Isolation

30:06 • 2min

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Rural-Urban Cultural Divide

32:00 • 2min

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A Writer's Mobility Between Worlds

33:52 • 4min

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Book Structure and Multiple Threads

37:32 • 1min

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How the Crime Enters the Narrative

38:54 • 1min

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Twitter Cancellation and Landlord Controversy

40:11 • 2min

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Buying Housing as Livelihood and Reporting

42:12 • 5min

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Bullying, Shame, and Throughlines

47:30 • 5min

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Depicting Disability and Caregiving

52:03 • 3min

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Writing the Addict's Partner Perspective

54:58 • 2min

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Addiction's Orbit and Caregiver Compromise

56:35 • 2min

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I Love Dick: Origin and Evolution

58:36 • 4min

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Why I Love Dick Endures

01:02:51 • 3min

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Auto‑fiction Risks and Truth

01:05:36 • 1min

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The Arc of Her Novels

01:06:48 • 2min

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Politics, Surveillance, and Historical Change

01:08:41 • 3min

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Hope, Elections, and Public Policy

01:11:44 • 4min

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Composition Choices and Timeframe

01:15:41 • 2min

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Reception and Reaching Wider Audiences

Four Spent the Day Together

Chris Kraus

#1402

• Mentioned in 29 episodes

In Cold Blood

Truman Capote

In 'In Cold Blood', Truman Capote chronicles the brutal murder of the Clutter family in Holcomb, Kansas, on November 15, 1959. The book follows the lives of the victims, Herb Clutter, his wife Bonnie, and their children Nancy and Kenyon, as well as the perpetrators, Perry Smith and Dick Hickock. Capote uses a nonfiction novel approach, blending factual reporting with narrative techniques to create a deeply human and emotionally engaging story. The book explores the psychological states of the murderers, the community's reaction to the crime, and the investigative efforts led by Alvin Dewey of the Kansas Bureau of Investigation. It delves into themes of innocence, evil, and the complexities of human nature, particularly through the empathetic portrayal of Perry Smith. The novel was first published serially in 'The New Yorker' in 1965 and later in book form in 1966, marking a significant contribution to the 'new journalism' genre.

#24620

• Mentioned in 2 episodes

Summer Of Hate

Chris Kraus

Chris Kraus's 'Summer of Hate' is a novel that explores the complexities of love, art, and politics in the context of the 2008 financial crisis and the rise of right-wing extremism in the United States. The story follows a real estate speculator and art critic who becomes entangled in the world of Arizona real estate and the militarized border regime. Kraus's writing is characterized by its sharp wit, unflinching honesty, and exploration of social and political issues. The novel's exploration of class, power, and the human condition remains relevant, prompting reflection on the complexities of social justice and the search for meaning. Its powerful imagery and evocative prose continue to captivate readers.

• Mentioned in 3 episodes

I Love Dick

Chris Kraus

In 'I Love Dick', Chris Kraus merges fiction and memoir formats to narrate her infatuation with 'Dick', a media theorist and sociologist. The novel is written as a series of love letters that the author and her husband, Sylvère Lotringer, compose and sometimes co-write, even though they are not sent. This work delves into themes of marriage, art, and the transformative power of first-person narrative, and it has been hailed as a 'cult feminist classic' and a key intervention in feminist literature. The book is characterized by its blend of autobiography, experimentation, graphic sex, and intellectualism, marking a significant contribution to the autotheory genre.

#9057

• Mentioned in 6 episodes

The Executioner's Song

Norman Mailer

The Executioner's Song is a Pulitzer Prize-winning true crime novel by Norman Mailer. The book meticulously reconstructs the events leading up to Gary Gilmore's crimes, his trial, and his ultimate execution by firing squad in Utah in 1977. It delves into themes of crime, punishment, and the American justice system through a blend of journalism and literary narrative. The novel details Gilmore's troubled life, his relationships, particularly with Nicole Baker, and the legal battles surrounding his case. Mailer's work raises questions about rehabilitation, retribution, and the ethics of capital punishment, and it examines the impact of media on high-profile criminal cases.

Chris Kraus is the author of the novel The Four Spent the Day Together, available from Scribner.

Kraus is a writer and critic. She studied acting and spent almost two decades making performances and experimental films in New York before moving to Los Angeles where she began writing. Her novels include Aliens & Anorexia, I Love Dick, 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. She has written for various magazines and has been a coeditor of the independent press Semiotext(e) since 1990. Her work has been praised for its damning intelligence, vulnerability, and dazzling speed and has been translated into seventeen languages. She lives in Los Angeles.

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