SOURCE: "The Central Creative Conflict, Mulatez" in Nicolás Guillén: Popular Poet of the Caribbean, University of Missouri Press, 1990, pp. 159-73.

In the following excerpt, Smart examines the synthesis of European and African cultural influences, or mulatez, in Guillén's poetry.

Mulatez is a cultural concept of direct artistic relevance, which involves an awakening to the full importance of the African cultural heritage. This new awareness engenders conflict in every cultural sphere, be it social, political, economic, or psychological—the inevitable conflict between Eurocentered and Afrocentered realities. In Guillén's view, the conflict of thesis and antithesis must be faced and resolved through the harmonious blending or synthesis of the opposing elements. In a real sense, there is conflict at the heart of Guillén's creativity; it is the very fount of that creativity. Without the tensions generated by the clash between Europe and Africa, Guillén's...