Geir Kjetsaa

Who was Geir Kjetsaa?

Geir Kjetsaa was a Norwegian professor in Russian literary history at the University of Oslo, translator of Russian literature, and author of several biographies of classical Russian writers.

He was born in Oslo, but grew up and died in Hornnes. He graduated as cand.philol. in 1963, took the dr.philos. degree in 1969, and was appointed professor in 1971. Kjetsaa was member of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters and of the Norwegian Academy for Language and Literature.

A 1984 monograph by Kjetsaa and others demonstrated through statistical analyses that Mikhail Sholokhov was likely the true author of And Quiet Flows the Don - defending the famous Soviet writer against persistent allegations of plagiarizing.

In 2000 he received the Fritt Ord Honorary Award.