Download or read book Evil Children in Religion, Literature, and Art written by E. Ziolkowski and published by Palgrave Macmillan. This book was released on 2001-05-21 with total page 253 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Evil Children in Religion, Literature and Art explores the genesis, development, and religious significance of a literary and iconographic motif, involving a gang of urchins, usually male, who mock or assault a holy or eccentric person, typically an adult. Originating in the biblical tale of Elisha's mockery (2 Kings 2.23-24), this motif recurs in literature, hagiography, and art, from antiquity up to our own time, strikingly defying the conventional Judeo-Christian and Romantic image of the child as a symbol of innocence.