Actually, the top 6 selling science fiction novels of all time are quite good and have literary cred: 1984 is Numero Uni, followed by the Hunger Games and then each Hunger Games sequel (all three excellent books that are taken seriously), then Animal Farm (of we count that)...and then Dune. Nothing else arguably sci-fi cone close to those 6, and all 6 are legitimately good books by lit-crit lights.
I'm criticising the critics, not the authors. They all have good reasons for writing depressing books. The main point is they are not genre authors. They use a science fiction plot device (set the story in the future in order to warn about the present), but they do not set out to write science fiction. Great authors don't care about genre.
I don't think Animal Farm counts as science fiction by anyone's definition. Someone obsessed with labels might call it fantasy, since it features talking animals, but I don't think "If you like Narnia you will like this" follows.
Look up "best selling novels of all time".
Fair point: Dystopian Fable? But the point stands that the best selling science fiction is also critically acclaimed science fiction.
It's usually just called Allegorical Fiction, but I have come across it referred to as a fable.
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