You may remember that early on in this Module I warned you about using the term "sci-fi." I said that in this course we will always use the term "SF" instead. But I wouldn't explain why. Well, now I'm ready to explain. Science fiction is a unique form of literature in several ways. One of these ways has to do with how it's looked at by people who do not approve of it, and do not like it, even if they've never read any of it.

You may or may not have noticed, but there are hierarchies in literature. People make lists, in their minds, or on paper, of "great books." The Modern Library has made their list of the "100 Best Novels of the Century". And they asked readers to submit their own lists. Take a look at the two lists by clicking this book . Then use your browser's back button to come back. Did you notice the differences in the lists? There's actually some science fiction on both lists, but there's a lot more on the readers' list.

Most people imagine some kind of line of literature...like this

With almost all SF way down at the comic book end. Where would you put what you most like to read? What do college professors most like to read? Go to the Discussion Board and let everyone know (and read what others think, and respond) about your "top 100 books."

The "types" of books on that line above ("romance," "western," "romantic poetry") are genres. And as you can see, sometimes whole genres get placed on the literature or garbage end of the line.

So who decides where a genre gets placed? And as you saw on the Modern Library list , doesn't it depend it on who is doing the placing? That's exactly right, and exactly the point. One of the things we have to think about in this class is why SF stories are worth studying in college. Is this a question you ask about Shakespeare? Isn't it one you should ask about Shakespeare, or Poe, or Alice Walker, or Toni Morrison? Robert A. Heinlein has said that the loveliest phrase in all literature is "pay to the order of" and many SF books make a lot of money, even if they don't get read by college professors. So is money, or popularity, a measure of good literature? or is it something else?
Go back to the discussion board and say a little more about this.

SF and Sci-Fi
This is part of the problem with the term "sci-fi." It's an inside/outside problem. When fans, people who know and appreciate science fiction, use the term "sci-fi," they mean the kind of science fiction that even they would put on the garbage end of the spectrum (although in private they might enjoy it anyway). (Like most of what you see on the cable "Sci-Fi Channel" ). When outsiders, those who don't know and enjoy science fiction use the term, they mean "garbage." And they expect that to mean all science fiction. In this class we will use the term "SF" or "Science Fiction." DO NOT USE THE TERM "SCI-FI" (unless you want to see your professor's angry face)

But for a more detailed discussion of this question of terminology, please read this conversation.

You shouldn't judge a book by its cover, as you know, but take a look at these two (you can click on them to see them a little bigger):

They're both covers for the same book, but the cover on the right is trying to attract people who want to read SF, and the cover on the left is trying to attract people looking for sci-fi. Who knows? Maybe some of them will get converted.

Another thing that SF has working for it (or against it) is SF fans.

SF has fans in a way that few literary genres anywhere or anywhen have had. People base their lives around SF--they dress up in costumes, they change their names, they gather together for conferences and festivals (here are some examples--Warning: this page has lots of photos, and will open on a new page, which will take a long time to load on a slow connection). Star Trek fans ("trekkies") are some of the best examples of this kind of fan (click here for a long list of Star Trek conventions, and here for a very funny, but kind, movie about trekkies, which you should look for at your local Blockbuster).

SF has been influenced heavily by the fact that its fans are often seen, and see themselves, as outcasts, as "nerds" or "geeks." To some extent with SF film and the encroachment of SF themes into the mainstream, the impact of this stereotype has been reduced.

Nonetheless, some fans certainly look ridiculous to outsiders. However, many important SF writers (and some scientists) started out as fans. This may be some measure of the true importance of SF.

SF people call the rest of fiction "mundane" fiction. For SF people, SF is literature which requires more imagination, more thinking, more freedom and more intelligence than other kinds of literature. It can be hard work, as well as entertainment, to read SF, and that's something that gives its fans a sense of superiority and accomplishment. Will you see it the same way?

As a genre of popular literature, SF often gets marginalized, put on the "garbage" end of the line (take another look at the line) but it also gains power from being on the margins. When we read SF, we're reading a genre of popular literature. But in some sense, SF fans, and SF writers, see SF as belonging on a different kind of line...A line where SF is the true "Great Literature," and anyone who sees it as "garbage" (or even "sci-fi"), is misguided, blind, or moronic. This has an effect on SF's audience, style, tone, and themes.