 Despite his poor health, Proust served a year (1889–90) in the French army, stationed at Coligny Barracks in Orléans, an experience that provided a lengthy episode in "The Guermantes' Way", part three of his novel.As a young man, Proust was a dilettante and a social climber whose aspirations as a writer were hampered by his lack of self-discipline.His reputation from this period, as a snob and an amateur, contributed to his later troubles with getting "Swann's Way", the first part of his large-scale novel, published in 1913.