During the final stages of Ceaușescu's rule, when liberalization was curbed, "matein" writings were rediscovered and reclaimed by the "Optzeciști" group of authors, themselves noted for attempting to evade cultural guidelines by adopting fantasy and avant-garde literature. Mircea Cărtărescu, a leading exponent of the "Optzeciști" and an advocate of Postmodernism, referred to Caragiale as one of his interwar precursors, while Ștefan Agopian acknowledged he pursued Mateiu's interests in his 1981 novel "Tache de catifea" ("Tache de Velvet"). According to critic Dumitru Ungureanu, it was mainly through Radu Albala that the "matein" model seeped into the work of various "Optzeciști"—Cărtărescu, Horia Gârbea and Florin Șlapac among them. Another Postmodernist author, Fundulea native Mircea Nedelciu, paid tribute to "matein" prose by basing a character of his 1986 novel "Tratament fabulatoriu" ("Confambulatory Treatment") on Caragiale, and again much later, by adopting the same practice in his final novel "Zodia Scafandrului" ("Sign of the Deep-sea Diver"). The isolated Postmodernist figure and former Communist Party ideologue Paul Georgescu is also believed to have used elements of "Craii..." as inspiration for his novels of the 1980s. In parallel, as an echo of "mateism", more critics grew interested in subjects relating to Caragiale's work. Various comprehensive monographs were published after 1980, including a volume edited by the Museum of Romanian Literature and two influential works written by, respectively, Alexandru George and philosopher Vasile Lovinescu. The latter, with its claim to uncover esoteric layers in Matein texts, remains controversial.