[1] In 1878, writing under the pseudonym Sarmat, he started to publish humorous sketches and short stories in the magazines Strekoza, Oskolki and newspapers (Russkiye Vedomosti, among others).

[3] His first short story collection Pod gnyotom (Oppressed) which the writer Nikolai Leykin had been instrumental in the publication of, came out in 1883 to considerable critical acclaim.

It was followed by several more, including Porvannye struny (Broken Strings, 1886), 80 Stories by Sarmat (1891) and Kartinki zhizni (Life's Sketches, 1892), as well as three novels: Raba (Woman Slave, 1887), Semeyny ochag (Family Hearth, 1893), Bortsy (Wrestlers, 1896).

In his lifetime Barantsevich published more than one hundred books, only one of them, a one-act play Pod zemlyoi (Underground, 1918), after 1917.

[4] Barantsevich's novels, highlighting the life of people from Russian lower middle classes, leading unspeakably dreary, aimless and lonesome existence on the outskirts of Saint Petersburg, earned him the reputation of the leading purveyor of 'social pessimism' in the Russian literature of the late 19th century.