The first step to answering this question is to define “postmodernism” as it relates to literary art. Essentially, postmodernism is a style or trend of writing that followed after World War II, although it is believed that poetry written today could also be considered postmodern. Adjectives often associated with this style include “dark,” “political,” “questioning,” and “fragmented,” among others.
The author of “Tourists,” Yhuda Amichai, was born in Germany, but moved to the Middle East as a small child. He is known as a Hebrew poet and he lived most of his life in Jerusalem. He fought with the Israeli forces and served in World War II. As such, some of his poetry is informed by these experiences. He believed that poetry was political. A key to understanding “Tourists” is to understand Amichai’s background and the time in which he wrote the poem.
Given this context, let us consider what...
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postmodern qualities the poem has. Amichai starts off by asking the reader to look at how he sees “them”—the tourists to Jerusalem. In blankfree verse, common in postmodern poetry, he narrates his observations of the tourists who have come to his city to “squat at the Holocaust Memorial.” Although the tourists put on “grave faces at the Wailing Wall,” they return to their hotels and forget the experience, “laughing” at the good times they are having on their vacation instead of holding on to the sacredness and horror of the Holocaust. Amichai continues to guess what the tourists are doing elsewhere in Jerusalem—seeing historical sites that have great consequence to the Jewish people—yet going about their daily activities, even the mundane ones such as drying underwear in their hotel rooms so they can sightsee the next day. Postmodern writers often react to an observation. Amichai is not only reacting to how he is observing the tourists, but also reacting to how the tourists are reacting to what they are seeing.
A sudden shift appears in both the style and perspective in the second part of the poem. Suddenly, Amichai, the narrator himself, inserts himself into the poem as one of the objects being observed by the tourists. This part of the poem is written with longer lines than the first part, as if the narrator wants us to head toward something that is important. Again, Amichai is critical of what he observes. The tourists are listening to their guide, ready for their leader to point out an interesting part of history. Amichai readies himself and wants to give the guide a chance to make things right by saying, “I said to myself: redemption will come only if their guide tells them,” meaning if the guide truly explains the significance of the arch and its place in Jerusalem, he will justify his job. But the guide fails, saying
You see that arch from the Roman period? It's not important: but next to it,
left and down a bit, there sits a man who's bought fruit and vegetables for his family.
The guide focuses on what he or she believes is relevant about the city, but it turns out it that the man buying food for his family is actually inconsequential to Jerusalem’s history. In postmodern style, Amichai shares his frustration with not only the people coming to see his city, but the guide who should know the weight of history on the sacred city better than most. This is a paradox, another critical element in postmodern literature. How absurd it seems to the narrator that the tourists and the guide are seeing, but not really seeing.