He wrote extensive studies on literary figures, and engaged in vivid polemics with many of his contemporaries. Dobrogeanu-Gherea had a lifelong friendship with Ion Luca Caragiale, giving an interpretation of his works through parallels established with writers of his generation in other cultures. For example, he compared Caragiale's short story "An Easter Torch", a reflection on the brutal outcome of anti-Semitism, with writings by Fyodor Dostoevsky. The two exchanged letters for a large part of their lives: while never a socialist, Caragiale admired Dobrogenu-Gherea's attitudes and used his critique of Romanian society in the writing of his work "1907. From Spring to Autumn" (expressing his beliefs about the causes and outcome of the 1907 peasants' revolt).