Books by rd blackmore5/28/2023 ![]() “We shall have need of sisu,” he observes gravely, “to face what may come shortly.” ![]() The sheriff slips the knife back into its leather holster and gazes to the east. I saw the finish of the fight - it was a glorious display of sisu.” Strode doesn’t record his own response, but he seems impressed. “They fought for an hour,” the sheriff says. Apparently a previous owner used the blade to fend off six attackers. For sentimental reasons, this sheriff carries around a dagger, which he hands to Strode. A “special kind of strong will” is the definition Strode goes with, something drawn upon by the stoic in order to persevere in the face of extreme adversity - say, winter, if you live in Lapland.Īt one point in the article, Strode visits a Finnish town near the Russian border and meets the local sheriff. ![]() The Wikipedia entry includes links to “stiff upper lip,” “cojones” and “chutzpah,” but none of those phrases or words quite capture it. In January 1940, in the pages of this very magazine, a writer by the excellent name of Hudson Strode published an article with the headline “Sisu: A Word That Explains Finland.” A Finnish concept that’s tricky to translate into English with any real precision, sisu represents something like a deep well of inner fortitude. ![]()
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