bovarysm

• bovarism, Bovarysm

Named after the character of Emma Bovary in Flaubert's novel Madame Bovary +‎ -ism.

bovarysm (uncountable)

1. An imagined or unrealistic conception of oneself.
2. (psychology) An anxiety to escape from a social or sentimental condition judged to be unsatisfactory, sometimes by building a fictitious personality.