THE BIGGEST controversy in the history of literature is coming to town this weekend.

For the third time in the event’s 32-year history, Carmel will host the Shakespeare Authorship Conference, a gathering of scholars, history buffs and literary detectives dedicated to debunking the idea that William Shakespeare actually penned the works attributed to him.

“There is definitely reason to doubt that Shakespeare wrote the plays,” explained Stephen Moorer, PacRep Theatre’s creative director and a leading debunker who played a big role in bringing the event to Carmel. “And there is so little that is known about the man, it just fuels the debate.”

In the world of Shakespeare scholarship, those who question the traditional view of the author are often called anti-Stratfordians, a reference to Stratford-upon-Avon, the writer’s alleged hometown. They believe the true author of Shakespeare’s works was an aristocrat or, perhaps, a group of aristocrats. Moorer believes it would be impossible for a man from Shakespeare’s humble origins to have such uncanny insight into the world of the privileged and the titled.

“In Shakespeare’s work, there is such realism and depth in the aristocratic characters,” Moorer said. “The peasants often come across as fools. They have funny names and they’re the subject of ridicule. When they’re portrayed as a mob, they’re a threat. That’s a very aristocratic attitude.”

Anti-Stratfordians offer several leading candidates as the true author or authors of Shakespeare’s work — Francis Bacon, Christopher Marlowe and Edward de Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford. DeVere is considered such a popular candidate that he has inspired his own sub-genre of anti-Stratfordians known as Oxfordians.

“His life’s story reads just like Hamlet’s,” Moorer insisted.

Anti-Stratfordians believe Shakespeare was simply a front for an aristocrat — or a group of aristocrats. By creating a fictitious author of the plays, the real writer could anonymously comment on — with impunity and often great satire — the contemporary politics, affairs and gossip of Elizabethan England.

“If it was known that the plays were written by a circle of nobility, the queen would have known that they were writing about her,” Moorer suggested.

A student’s insight

The Golden Bough Playhouse will present a series of lectures Friday, Saturday and Sunday featuring some of the leading voices in anti-Stratfordian research. Perhaps most interesting about the lineup of speakers is the inclusion of Allegra Krasznekewicz, a junior at Santa Catalina School in Monterey. Krasznekewicz recently took home top honors in countywide and statewide History Day competitions for her paper, “William Shakespeare and the Authorship Controversy: A Study in Literary Triumph and Historical Tragedy.” Despite her youth, Krasznekewicz offers impressive credentials as a Shakespeare scholar. She started reading and performing Shakespeare in junior high school, and after spending a month in London and Oxford during her freshman year, she began researching the Shakespeare authorship controversy. In addition to the honors she received for her Shakespeare paper, Krasznekewicz has also been awarded top prizes in poetry and French competitions.

“After Allegra won the History Day competitions, she started getting some press,” Moorer said. “She’s a great example of a young scholar in training. That’s what it’s going to take to solve this 300-year-old mystery. Eventually, someone is going to solve it.”

Teachers and students will be admitted free to the lectures. For more information about the conference, call (831) 622-0100 or visit www.shakespeare-oxford.com and click on “2007 Conference.”

- ‘Midsummer,’ ‘Macbeth’

With so many Shakespeare scholars in town, it seems only natural that PacRep Theatre would pay tribute to arguably the greatest writer in literature, whoever he might be. PacRep presents performances of Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Outdoor Forest Theater, Friday and Saturday, Oct. 5-6, at 7:30 p.m. They’ll also offer matinee performances of Macbeth at the Circle Theatre Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 6-7, at 2 p.m. For tickets, call (831) 622-0100 or visit www.pacrep.org.