Citations:paracosm

English citations of paracosm

Noun

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1. A detailed imaginary world, especially one created by a child.
   • 1990, Dorothy G. Singer, Jerome L. Singer, “Imaginary Playmates and Imaginary Worlds”, in The House of Make-Believe: Children’s Play and the Developing Imagination, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, →ISBN; paperback edition, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1992, →ISBN, page 116:

     Imaginary playmates and paracosms may chiefly represent the vast creative potential of inherently talented people, but in less elaborated forms, they may also represent what childhood imagination can offer to the growing person. Humanity has already benefited from the paracosmic visions of Plato, Thomas More, Aldous Huxley, Thomas Hobbes, Arthur Tappan Wright^{[sic – meaning Austin Tappan Wright]} (Islandia), and J. R. R. Tolkien.

   • 1991 — David Cohen & Stephen A. MacKeith, The Development of Imagination: The Private Worlds of Childhood, Routledge (1991), →ISBN, page 85:

     Rosalind enjoyed her school life, both at a progressive co-ed day school till 11 and afterwards at boarding school. Her 'paracosm' does seem to have been produced at a time of acute stress when she lost her mother and had to settle to a new, far from perfect, stepmother.

   • 1999, Marjorie Taylor, “Do Older Children and Adults Create Imaginary Companions?”, in Imaginary Companions and the Children Who Create Them, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 136:

     Occasionally the fantasies of older childhood go well beyond the invention of a pretend friend. In fact, some children, typically at about 9 or 10 years of age, create "paracosms"—entire societies or worlds for the imaginary people to inhabit. [...] How common is it for children to create such elaborate fantasies, and what does the invention of a paracosm say about its creator? The bulk of what is known about paracosms comes from the comprehensive account of imaginary worlds in the work of Robert Siley and Stephen MacKeith, [...]

   • 2001 — Sally Jenkinson, The Genius of Play: Celebrating the Spirit of Childhood, Hawthorn (2001), →ISBN, page 38:

     One man I met developed his own little world, or paracosm, over 40 years ago, and wrote to me about his childhood game.

   • 2005, Delmont C. Morrison, Shirley Linden Morrison, Memories of Loss and Dreams of Perfection: Unsuccessful Childhood Grieving and Adult Creativity (Imagery and Human Development Series), Amityville, N.Y.: Baywood Publishing, →ISBN, page 72:

     As Emily [Brontë] turned in on herself for resources, she created a new paracosm, the Kingdom of Gondal, which she shared with Anne [Brontë]. The paracosm of Gondal became a way of life for the sisters; they shared its secrets for the rest of their lives.

   • 2007, Thomas Armstrong, “Middle Childhood: Entering the Civilized World”, in The Human Odyssey: Navigating the Twelve Stages of Life, New York, N.Y.: Sterling Publishing, →ISBN, page 93:

     One paracosm in their study was a country called Branmail consisting totally of cats — except for its creator, a six-year-old girl named Holly who had access to the world by scaling a height called Bumpety Banks.

   • 2008 — David Sobel, Childhood and Nature, Stenhouse Publishers (2008), →ISBN, page 26:

     One of the originators of the study had a paracosm of his own in childhood and was intrigued to find out whether other adults recalled similar experiences.

   • 2009 — Joshua C. Kendall, The Man Who Made Lists: Love, Death, Madness, and the Creation of Roget's Thesaurus, G. P. Putnam's Sons (2008), →ISBN, page 41:

     As children, many famous artists and writers — including W. H. Auden, the Brontë sisters, C. S. Lewis, and Friedrich Nietzsche — developed a paracosm, which, in its pure form, features a variety of imaginary people and places.

   • 2010, Sarah Lynne Bowman, “Role-playing as Alteration of Identity”, in The Functions of Role-playing Games: How Participants Create Community, Solve Problems and Explore Identity, Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company, →ISBN, page 130:

     The children created these inner worlds for a number of reasons, though each paracosm tends to be a long-lasting, heavily structured, and internally consistent.

   • 2011 — Claire Golomb, The Creation of Imaginary Worlds: The Role of Art, Magic and Dreams in Child Development, Jessica Kingsley Publishers (2011), →ISBN, page 120:

     An example of such a paracosm, of the extensive creation of imaginary beings is presented by Brittney E.