Stephen Pamenius De Buda Sparknotes

Stephen Pamenius de Buda was a humanist of Hungarian origins, who is not considered to be a usual member of the literary canon. However, recent changes in scholarship provide even more space for authors and works that are less known, but perhaps more informative about the period in question. Parmenius travelled to England and became involved in an exploratory voyage to Canada, but lost his life on the way back. His surviving letter and poem De Navigatore or An Embarkation Poem focuses on the theme of exile, which he experienced far from his homeland. In his works, he recounts his travels, compliments the English and honors their explorations of the new world. Although Parmenius celebrates England, he also expresses nostalgia and longing for

. . let me say that no situation, no people, no state has pleased me so much as your country of Britain, whatever aspect of my plan I consider. In addition, the warmth, with which I have been received at every turn, by the people with whom I have had any dealing, has so exceeded all my expectations that now (and I say it with due patriotism) the delightful friendship of the English has almost dispelled my longing for Buda and the Hungary which I am bound to call my homeland. (Hakluyt 77)
His letter demonstrates the sense of not belonging to either country, although he wishes to identify with both of them. He also commemorates ancient times by referring to Hungary as Pannonia, suggesting that the land had a golden age in the past. When honoring England, he proposes the unfolding of the golden age of England, which evidently shows the urge to belong there.
Another more marginal literary figure who experienced exile in the early modern era is Michelangelo Florio, an Italian man seeking refuge in England, where his son – John Florio, a humanist linguist – was born. His case represents the relationship between travel and translation exactly, as he “must always negotiate between two worlds, and two languages, at least, leading a difficult life in the spaces between worlds; and it is in those spaces that the exile’s main task–namely, to create an alternative, more habitable world–is carried out” (Di Biase 16). The act of translation serves as a mode for preserving his identity and connecting to his native