Have a look at this Executive Summary of Adult Literacy in America: A First Look at the Results of the National Adult Literacy Survey. 21-23% are at level one (barely functional), 23-25% at level two (one step above that) of literacy. So that means 53-58% of adults in this society basically could not read "literature" in any meaningful way. Now compare this with the NEA's "Reading at Risk" survey, which laments the fact that only 46% (or so) of adults have read literature for pleasure in the past year. This is about 100% of people who actually have the literacy skills to read! Only 18-20 percent of the population can read at "the two highest levels" of literacy. Now this information is not the latest, but if the literacy rate is pretty much the same now as in 1992... I'll try to find better information.