Creating Imaginary Worlds in Childhood (“Paracosm”): One of Two Cognitive Talents from Childhood used by Adult Novelists and in Multiple Personality

The two cognitive talents from childhood that are used by adult novelists and in multiple personality are imaginary companions and paracosm (imaginary worlds). The latter is the subject of The Development of Imagination: The Private Worlds of Childhood by David Cohen and Stephen A. MacKeith (Routledge, 1991). Most of the book is a description of the paracosms of normal children who create imaginary worlds because they enjoy it.

“One of the earliest instances recorded of children making up such a world is that of the four Bronte children. Charlotte and Branwell, Emily and Anne Bronte lived with their widowed father…In June 1826 their father gave them a set of toy soldiers and this gift sparked into being Verdopolis, the great Glass Town, which later blossomed into the country of Angria. Charlotte and Branwell became completely absorbed in the elaboration of Angria…Branwell tended to develop the political and military side of Angria while Charlotte concentrated on the personalities and relationships of the chief characters. In time, Anne and Emily created a world of their own, Gondal, leaving Angria to the elder two…Unlike the imaginary worlds of most children, that of the Brontes survived into their adulthood.”

According to Cohen and MacKeith, paracosms can start as young as age 3. Most start between 7 and 12. Few start after age 13.

“Friedrich Nietzsche, the philosopher, had a childhood paracosm, as did W. H. Auden, the poet…and various authors, such as Thomas de Quincey, Anthony Trollope, Robert Louis Stevenson, and C. S. Lewis.”

It is part of Multiple Identity Literary Theory that novelists and others with multiple personality make use of these two cognitive talents—imaginary companions and paracosm—from childhood. It is also part of my theory that this type of thinking is present in perhaps 30% of the general public, which is perhaps why video games in which people create imaginary worlds are popular. Did the people who create and enjoy such games have paracosms as children?