Anecdote from NZ, all the English majors I know have read several if not all of the above authors (including one who read Ulysses 13 times after he left university). In fact I would be surprised if you could get that degree without doing so.

I read a lot and I often read the author blurbs, my second anecdote is that it seems a large number of writers studied English/Literature. In addition authors often drop hints to having read the above, listing works as recommendations or influences, or dropping qoutes or allusions.

Still I'm sure there are plenty who haven't read those authors, but perhaps they have read Shakespeare, Melville, Tolstoy etc.

Today maybe not. But back before the internets, writers sure had read most of those. Except if you mean pulp writers -- there I can't tell.

Still, I follow the literary world in 2-3 countries quite closely, and all those are old staples. Your average writer with literary aspirations have read all or most of them and tons of others. There was no published poet a few decades ago that hadn't read Elliot and Pound.

Heck, even university students in most fields had read those authors back in the day. It was just something you did. Even rock musicians. You can find references to Elliot for example in the Beatles, Bob Dylan, and lots of other bands.

In essence, reading other writers (and a lot of times, criticizing them, often in literary magazines) is what writers did/do.