The three novellas that make up Little Kingdoms greatly vary in their subject matter—a cartoonist /animator, a fairy tale, and an art catalogue—but the concerns that they touch upon are strikingly similar. Each of the little kingdoms is a realm of art, and through the three different disciplines that are explored, Millhauser raises questions concerning the nature of art and its relationship to the artist that creates it and the society that consumes it. The branch of philosophy known as aesthetics has explored these questions as long as art has existed, and Millhauser adds his own interpretation through emphasizing the stories of the artists themselves.

The kingdom of the first novella, "The Little Kingdom of J. Franklin Payne" features the art of cartooning, both comic strips and animation. The story of this gifted artist begins with a fantastical emergence from his third-floor...