Púrpura profundo (Deep
Purple) won the XXII La Sonrisa
Vertical Prize in March 2000.
Agustín Caban has just
retired from a newspaper where he was a music critic. A lively seducer, he now
has a lot of free time on his hands. He only has one overpowering urge: to
invoke the spectres which up to now have provided his sole reason for living. Sebastián, his close friend and head of
the entertainment section at the newspaper, gives him the push he needs and
encourages him to write his memoirs.
As Sebastián enthusiastically
devours the pages given to him by the music critic, the reader is taken deeper
into Agustin’s amorous world. There was the passionate affair with Virginia Tuten, the violinist whose
exotic Caribbean fire was on the verge of burning to the ground the critic’s marriage; with the pianist Clint Verret, not the only man in
Agustín’s life, but he was the one who led him to the edge of the abyss of
intense love; with the diaphanous Clarissa
Berdsley, a horn player who carried on a curious relationship with a
bat…These, and other stories, lead Agustin along uncharted paths. Every
musician with whom he has a relationship touches a new chord in him. For
Agustin, music is always unconditionally linked to sexual passion. When Agustin
conquers a new musician, he believes he has won more than their bodies —their deep purple— he savours the captivation
of their intractable and unrepeatable inner melody: the Music —with a capital
M— that all of us strive to achieve.
RIGHTS SOLD TO
France - Editorial Mercure de France
China - Editorial Northern Light Publishing Co.
Portugal - Editorial Editora Pergaminho
Rumania - Editorial Editura Paralela 45
Italy - Editorial Vertigo Edizioni
United States - Editorial The Ecco Press
Yugoslavia - Editorial Plato Books