Science Fiction: Is it literature?

[Shaun]

I guess this could turn out to be a debate, but it's more a literature discussion anyway.

So, do you guys consider science fiction to be of the same societal and cultural significance as literary fiction or works that are considered to be 'good literature' whose authors primarily win awards like the Pulitzer or the Nobel?
Why or why not? What do you have to say about the literary academia's hatred for science fiction and continued fight against it being recognized as legit and significant?

[jordanisonfire]

Of course it's literature. Why wouldn't it be?

[Shaun]

Well the people who developed the literary canon, teach literature in college, and the like, consider science fiction to be a lesser literature. They think of it as the same as harlequin romances, rather dull fiction that doesn't make a reader think and doesn't have an influential role in presenting ideas and concepts from history, mythology, or about human existence and life. They think of it and fantasy, and mainstream fiction, as 'lower literature' at best, and stuff like the classics and literary fiction as 'higher literature', implying that anything that is considered higher literature has more literary merit than stuff in lower literature and therefore should be taken more seriously and studied, while the other stuff has no significance at all to literature as a whole.

[Rafael Domination]

What the! (I am sooo joining this...)

Why would sci-fi have less literary merit than, lets say, The Outsider, by Albert Camus...? I mean, it's this type of literature that stimulates the human mind, allowing imagination to explore areas and worlds never done before! It stimulates the brain, and elevates the author to a status of a diety in his/her own universe!

Fine! Don't study sci-fi because it may not contain all the boring philosophies of some other book! But it shouldn't be called 'lower-level' literature, because frankly, it, and fantasy, and etc, are what brightens up the written world!

I'M DONE RAMBLING NOW!!! XD

[Shaun]

Why would sci-fi have less literary merit than, lets say, The Outsider, by Albert Camus...? I mean, it's this type of literature that stimulates the human mind, allowing imagination to explore areas and worlds never done before! It stimulates the brain, and elevates the author to a status of a diety in his/her own universe!

Fine! Don't study sci-fi because it may not contain all the boring philosophies of some other book! But it shouldn't be called 'lower-level' literature, because frankly, it, and fantasy, and etc, are what brightens up the written world!

I'M DONE RAMBLING NOW!!! XD

Actually, the irony of things is that SF (something you should recognize as another debate is that the term scifi or sci-fi is actually derogatory to science fiction or SF because it has come to mean TV shows or pulp science fiction) actually goes as far as to use philosophy, mythology, etc. in the novels, and short stories. You're an example of someone that doesn't realize this perhaps because you've never been given the opportunity to study it like you have other forms of literature. You've probably read a good chunk of the classics, but if someone with a good head actually took some of the classics of science fiction and rigorously analyzed them, they would realize that science fiction is as much a genre of thinking and deep inner meanings as the classics or literary fiction. The only difference is that the what-if scenarios in SF revolve around futuristic, non-existent settings. One science fiction novel might propose the question: What if in the near future we learn how to manipulate genes? Genetic manipulation is a huge issue right now and it's irrelevant that the book is set in a time that may or may not happen because the novel itself will focus on the ethics and morality of manipulating genes.
One might also find in SF novels hints to mythology. The novel I'm currently working on involves a planet called Actaeon. Look that word up (in Wiki, since the basic idea of who Actaeon is, is close enough there). Yes, the theme of that character will show up in the story and I intentionally did this.
So, I think that all is clear, right?

[Rafael Domination]

Wow, Shaun! :D You're as bright as ever!!! (and I was sincere about that...:D)

[Shaun]

Well add to the discussion and subscribe to my blog feed. I'm bright on there all the time :D