Cerna's love of rural life, together with what Călinescu describes as a "social preoccupation", made him an outspoken opponent of the way in which the authorities handled the peasant uprising of 1907. That year, as Mihail Dragomirescu parted with Mehedinţi to establish "Convorbiri Critice", which advertised a "Junimist" agenda while standing against "Convorbiri Literare", Cerna became one of his main collaborators. The group of "Convorbiri Critice" writers also included D. Nanu, Corneliu Moldovanu, Emil Gârleanu, I. Dragoslav and Gheorghe Vâlsan. In 1908, he decided to continue his studies in the German Empire. The decision was influenced and encouraged by "Junimea" and its leader Titu Maiorescu, who, as Minister of Education granted him a scholarship. Călinescu describes this as a sign of late "Junimist" elitism, a view which implied that all literary men should be academics. This, he argues, was one of the few areas in which "Junimea" still differed from "Sămănătorul", which was more open to less elitist environments.