Late in 1937, Geo Bogza traveled to Spain as a war correspondent in the Civil War, supporting the Republican side. His position of the time drew comparisons with those of other leftist intellectuals who campaigned against or fought Nationalist forces, including W. H. Auden and George Orwell. He was accompanied on this journey by Constantin Lucreţia Vâlceanu, who had ambitions of becoming a writer, and whom Bogza asked to contribute to a never-completed novel inspired by the war. Soon after their return, in what was a surprising gesture, Vâlceanu split with the leftist camp and rallied with the Iron Guard.