Jame Retief

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 Science Fiction Stories (volume 9, number 1) in January 1960.

Algis Budrys noted that the name "Retief" is, approximately, "fighter pronounced backwards."

Retief himself is described only in the broadest of terms. His history is never recounted, and very little is revealed about his life prior to joining the CDT. He apparently holds a rank of minor nobility on a planet ruled by a feudal-style aristocracy, but his motivations for joining the CDT are never explained. His physical appearance is rarely described in anything but the broadest terms (for example, in Retief's War, it is stated that he is 6'3" tall), though his activities within the stories indicate that he is physically fit and quite athletic, with unusual upper-body strength. In the various stories, Retief can be found swimming, skiing, mountain climbing, scuba diving, combat driving, and piloting various types of air- and spacecraft. He also shows a wide knowledge of history, art, languages, and politics, usually beyond that of his superiors in the CDT.

According to Jan Strnad, who adapted several Retief stories into a comic book series published by Mad Dog Comics in the mid-80s, Laumer informed him that he had always pictured Retief as having black hair, and looking somewhat like Cary Grant. Laumer also indicated that he was displeased with the covers of the mid-80s Baen Books reprintings of the Retief books, since they presented Retief as a blond-haired character. (The model for these book covers was Corbin Bernsen.)

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