 The portrait of the parents in "Jean Santeuil" is quite harsh, in marked contrast to the adoration with which the parents are painted in Proust's masterpiece.Following the poor reception of "Les Plaisirs et les Jours", and internal troubles with resolving the plot, Proust gradually abandoned "Jean Santeuil" in 1897 and stopped work on it entirely by 1899.Beginning in 1895 Proust spent several years reading Thomas Carlyle, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and John Ruskin.