Jame Retief is the main character in a series of satirical science fiction stories by Keith Laumer. The stories were written over a span of thirty years beginning in the early 1960s, without much regard for chronology or any particular scheme.
Detailing the travails of Jame Retief in the Corps Diplomatique Terrestrienne (CDT) the stories have a base in Laumer's experiences in the United States Foreign Service, notably his time as vice consul in Burma in the 1950s. Reorganisations in the Foreign Service both before and after World War II were a source of considerable conflict at the time, as the diplomatic "old guard" were confronted with a new world situation and a new generation of diplomats, men like Laumer, who took a more pragmatic approach to the service. This conflict undoubtedly informs the Retief stories, in which stubborn and often ignorant superiors mired in bureaucracy cause him endless difficulties in the carrying out of his duties.
The first Retief story, Diplomat At Arms, appeared in the magazine Fantastic Stories of Imagination in January 1960.
Algis Budrys noted that the name "Retief" is, approximately, "fighter pronounced backwards."
Read more about Jame Retief: History, Skills, and Appearance, Themes, Reception, Connections To The Bolo Series, Quote, Retief Novels and Stories