Alexandru Macedonski

Context: Macedonski also returned with a new volume of poetry, Excelsior (consecutive editions in 1895 and 1896), and founded Liga Ortodoxa ("The Orthodox League"), a magazine noted for hosting the debut of Tudor Arghezi, later one of the most celebrated figures in Romanian literature. Macedonski commended his new protege for reaching "the summit of poetry and art" at "an age when I was still prattling verses". Liga Ortodoxa also hosted articles against Caragiale, which Macedonski signed with the pseudonym Sallustiu ("Sallustius"). The magazine was additional proof of Macedonski's return to conservatism, and largely dedicated to defending the cause of Romanian Orthodox Metropolitan Ghenadie, deposed by the Romanian Synod following a political scandal. It defended Ghenadie up until he chose to resign, and subsequently went out of print. Macedonski was shocked to note that Ghenadie had given up his own defense.  In 1895, his Casa cu nr. 10 was translated into French by the Journal des Debats, whose editors reportedly found it picturesque. Two years later, Macedonski himself published French-language translations of his earlier poetry under the title Bronzes, a volume prefaced by his disciple, the critic and promoter Alexandru Bogdan-Pitesti. Although it was positively reviewed by Mercure de France magazine, Bronzes was largely unnoticed by the French audience, a fact which Tudor Vianu attributes to Bogdan-Pitesti's lack of qualification for the cultural mission Macedonski had trusted him with. By that time, his circle had come to be frequented with regularity by Bogdan-Pitesti's friend and collaborator, the celebrated painter Stefan Luchian, who was in the Symbolist and Art Nouveau stage of his career.  By 1898, Macedonski was again facing financial difficulties, and his collaborators resorted to organizing a fundraiser in his honor. His rejection of the Orthodox establishment was documented by his political tract, published that year as Falimentul clerului ortodox. Between that time and 1900, he focused on researching esoteric, occult and pseudoscientific subjects. Traian Demetrescu, who recorded his visits with Macedonski, recalled his former mentor being opposed to his positivist take on science, claiming to explain the workings of the Universe in "a different way", through "imagination", but also taking an interest in Camille Flammarion's astronomy studies. Macedonski was determined to interpret death through parapsychological means, and, in 1900, conferenced at the Atheneum on the subject Sufletul si viata viitoare ("The Soul and the Coming Life"). The focal point of his vision was that man could voluntarily stave off death with words and gestures, a concept he elaborated upon in his later articles. In one such piece, Macedonski argued: "man has the power [...] to compact the energy currents known as thoughts to the point where he changes them, according to his own will, into objects or soul-bearing creatures." He also attempted to build a machine for extinguishing chimney fires. Later, Nikita Macedonski registered the invention of nacre-treated paper, which is sometimes attributed to his father. CANNOTANSWER

Question: What was Alexandru Macedonski doing in the late 1890s?
Answer: By 1898, Macedonski was again facing financial difficulties, and his collaborators resorted to organizing a fundraiser in his honor.