This course surveys some of the founding works of modern literature, psychology, cultural studies, and literary criticism, with the aim of uncovering their debt to Jewish tradition. The notorious complexity of modern thought may derive from the ancient rabbinic practice of midrash, which condoned plural and even divergent readings of the bible. For the rabbis, the work of interpretation was never done. The modern works of secular Jews like Franz Kafka, Sigmund Freud, Walter Benjamin, and Jacques Derrida may be said to transfer these strategies of biblical analysis to a variety of new “texts,” ranging from dreams and free-associations (Freud) to private fantasies and public bureaucracies (Kafka), from storytelling practices and city planning (Benjamin) to philosophy and autobiography (Derrida). In this course, we read short works by all of these writers alongside biographical and critical essays exploring how they confronted their Jewishness. We develop an understanding of influential strands of modern thought, while highlighting their roots in Jewish culture.