The article is devoted to Genrikh V. Baranovich (1860–1912), a turnof-the-century writer who remained in obscurity for over a hundred years despite the popularity of his collection Near Gold on the Amur [Okolo zolota na Amure] with Siberian readers. By reintroducing his name into contemporary scholarly discourse, A. Urmanov is adding a missing fragment that allows for better appreciation of the wealth and diversity of early 20th-century Russian literature. The study explores the system of motifs that reveals direct descendance of Baranovich’s book from the Russian classics in terms of its themes and poetics. Comparative analysis facilitates the conclusion that a combination of local content and national artistic codes enhances the ideological and conceptual significance of the cycle and charges it with a universal meaning. Creative use of Gogolian and Chekhovian motifs in depictions of the exotic Amur region ensures the book’s spot in the global cultural dialogue and provokes interest among the writer’s contemporaries and modern-day readers alike.