Uchodźca jako człowiek, który nie ma dokąd wracać. Los uchodźcy na tle podziału Indii i rozpadu Pakistanu w powieści Phera („Powrót”) Taslimy Nasrin

The following paper shows the depiction of the refugee experience in Phera (‘Return’)—a novel written by a Bangladeshi writer, Taslima Nasrin—by using the literary analysis method. Thus, the relevant passages were translated into Polish, commented on and supported when necessary with further historical or cultural infor-mation. The plot of the novel is based on the background of major historical events, such as the Partition of India (1947) and the Bangladesh Liberation War (1971). The experience of being a refugee is shown from two perspectives: the struggle to settle in the place of arrival and the painful confrontation with one’s own memories about the true homeland. This proves that a refugee is a person who never can adopt to a foreign country completely but, more significantly, who can never return to the native land because the place once left behind does not really exist.