'SIGNAL & amp; NOISE' Hefty novel features techies of the 1800s


May 16, 2003 at 12:00a.m.


The book depicts the laying of the transatlantic telegraph cable.
By CHARLES MATTHEWS
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
"Signal & amp; Noise" by John Griesemer (Picador, $26)
This is a tale of a telecommunications breakthrough and the techies, venture capitalists, hype artists and suckers who were involved in it. And it's not about the Internet. There's nothing digital about the technology except the fingers tapping away at telegraph keys at either end of the transatlantic cable.
John Griesemer's novel, "Signal & amp; Noise," is only partly about the laying of the cable. It's a hefty, energetic depiction of the mid-19th century, when London fell foul of an antiquated sewer system that produced the "Great Stink" and the United States was riven by the Civil War.
Central character
The central character is a young engineer, Chester Ludlow, whose marriage to Franny has grown brittle since the death of their daughter. Chester becomes a celebrity when he's persuaded to take part in the Phantasmagorium, an elaborate stage show designed to attract investors for the cable project. He has an affair with Katerina Lindt, whose husband, Joachim, is the creator of the Phantasmagorium.
When Chester goes off to England with the show and gets involved with the laying of the cable, Franny becomes a famous spiritualist, enthralling audiences with assurances that the dead can be communicated with, even though her attempts to communicate with her dead daughter are not exactly successes.
There are half a dozen other major characters and plot lines. Karl Marx and Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln make cameo appearances.
Griesemer, whose previous novel was the well-received "No One Thinks of Greenland," has written a historical novel in which for once the characters don't sound like moderns in fancy dress, and the fascinating history doesn't detract from the fiction -- or vice versa.
It's big and baggy, and the ending falls kersplat, but "Signal & amp; Noise" could be this summer's brainy beach read.