The latter position was vehemently criticized by those who contended that he plagiarized in his novel Incognito and for the anti-Semitic campaigns he initiated in the newspapers Săptămâna and România Mare which he founded and led.

[5] One of the few persons trusted with official criticism on both political and literary issues during the communist regime — under Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, and especially under Nicolae Ceaușescu[11] — he was noted for his early writings in praise of Soviet achievements such as the Sputnik program,[12] and his progressive move to a more nationalist tone as this became condoned (and later encouraged).

[14] His Principele novel, set during the Phanariote era, was interpreted to be an ironic reference to Gheorghiu-Dej's rule and the labor camps of the Danube–Black Sea Canal, and was condoned by the regime during a period of relative liberalization — cut short by the July Theses of 1971.

[18] During the 1970s and '80s, he notably launched verbal attacks against Romanian intellectuals who had defected the country, as well as against writers who were critical of the regime[20] (the latter included Paul Goma, whom, in 1977, he called "a non-entity").

[24] After the Romanian Revolution of 1989, Barbu and Tudor emerged as ideologists of a new nationalist trend, which largely repeated themes present in previous official discourse, while casting aside references to communism.

In early 2005, eleven years after his death, the satirical magazine Academia Cațavencu uncovered and publicized a Securitate file which seems to indicate that Barbu had sexual encounters with underage girls, provided by Tudor and paid for their services.