A lengthy polemic consumed Iorga's relationship with Lovinescu, having at its core the irreconcilable differences between their visions of cultural history. Initially an Iorga aficionado and an admirer of his attack on foreign influences, the "Sburătorul" leader left sarcastic comments on Iorga's rejection of Symbolism, and, according to Crohmălniceanu, "entire pages of ironies targeting Iorga's advice to writers that they should focus of the sufferings of their 'brother' in the village". Lovinescu also ridiculed Iorga's traditionalist mentoring, calling him a "pontiff of indecency and insult", an enemy of "democratic freedom", and the patron of forgettable "literature about hajduks".