RECREATIONAL TEXTS: CHARACTERISTICS, FUNCTIONS, TYPES, EXAMPLES - LITERATURE - 2025

The recreational texts are those that are intended to entertain the reader. They can be popular texts (joke, riddle, proverb) and literary (novel, short story, poetry or appetizer), although some also include graphics (comic).

Although this type of text can provide useful information (such as historical novels or science fiction novels), its main purpose is not to inform but to abstract the person who reads them from their own reality.

This type of text can be part of any of the major literary genres: epic, lyrical, and drama. Novels, stories, legends, myths and fables belong to the epic. Comics and graphic novels are also included in this group. This genre has the recreational texts most read by people around the world.

In the lyric poems are included, both those that rhyme and those that are made in free verse. Finally, the drama is made up of written texts that are intended to be represented by actors (that is, scripts).

Characteristics of recreational texts

The characteristics of recreational texts can be internal and external.

Internal

They have to do with the type of text, which can be narrative, poetic or dramatic. In all cases they are fictitious texts.

External

They have to do with the literary format used, that is, if it is written in prose, verse or dialogue. Prose usually predominates over the rest, since it is the natural way to express ourselves.

Features

Draw attention

The recreational text must be attractive from beginning to end so that the reader is predisposed to receive that information with pleasure.

Entertain the reader

Recreational texts are not about scientific, objective, concrete writing without any kind of passion. The author must be able to entertain the reader and generate feelings such as fun, sadness or tension. That is why they are beautiful and pleasant compositions for reading.

Let it be read from beginning to end

While a scientific text would have an index to search for the section that interests you, this type of composition is designed to be read in its entirety, since it would not make sense otherwise and information could be lost along the way. That is why recreational texts have an introduction, middle or end.

Types

Literary texts can be of two types: literary and popular, although some scholars of the language include graphic text as the third type.

Literary

Recreational literary texts are novels, stories, poems and plays, among others. It is characterized by the representation that the author reflects on a story, some characters and a context.

They have a structure according to their genre and it evolves according to the literary movement of each era and the audience. For example, the Grimm brothers did not elaborate their stories in the way that JK Rowling does now.

Popular

Popular texts are jokes, riddles, sayings, nursery rhymes, jokes, etc. They are distinguished because their original author is usually unknown and is transmitted through oral tradition from generation to generation, varying its structure or letter in many cases.

For example, "La tarara" is a popular Spanish song whose origin is unknown, but it is still sung in the circles of any school to this day.

Examples of recreational texts

Here is a list of the ten most popular recreational texts. In addition to this, an extract of the text is included.

1- "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" by JK Rowling

2- "The Chronicles of Narnia: the lion, the witch and the wardrobe" by CS Lewis

3- "Dark matter: Northern lights" by Phillip Pullman

4- “The Little Prince” by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

5- "The metamorphosis" by Franz Kafka

6- “Rip Van Winkle” by Washington Irving

7- "Ode to a Greek Urn" by John Keats

8- "The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe

9- “Death” by Emily Brontë

10- “Romeo and Juliet” by William Shakespeare

References

1. Leisure Reading. Retrieved on September 19, 2017, from ncte.org
2. The importance of leisure reading to health sciences students. Retrieved on September 19, 2017, from ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
3. The Importance of Leisure Reading for Students. Retrieved on September 19, 2017, from ebsco.com
4. Reader-Text Interactions. Retrieved on September 19, 2017, from ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
5. Mohr (2006). Children's Choices for Recreational Reading. Retrieved on September 19, 2017, from journals.sagepub.com
6. Leasure Reading. Retrieved on September 19, 2017, from literacyworldwide.org
7. Popular Leasure Reading Books. Retrieved on September 19, 2017, from goodreads.com.