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'In 1979, Day received the Hawaii Award
for Literature. Upon his death in 1994, Day was eulogized in a Honolulu
Advertiser editorial as "Hawaii's Literary Lion," to whom "Hawaii and the
rest of the Pacific owe . . . a particular literary debt." The editorial concluded
that Day was "the pre-eminent source" for the literature of the South
Seas, as well as "a scholar and serious literary historian."' In this, Day appeared
as the "literary man" in a larger project involving a variety of Pacific
experts centered around the university and the Bishop Museum, most of
whom took more "scientific,"less library-bound approaches, and some of
whom were explicitly concerned with the preservation (if not perpetuation)
of Hawaiian and other Pacific cultures. Though Day did associate with these
scholars in what was a much smaller university setting (the university went
from 2,500 students in 1946 to 25,000 in 1976), his literary vision has left a
different legacy from the work of scholars such as Kenneth Emory (archaeology),
Katherine Luomala (folklore), and Samuel Elbert (linguistics). Day's legacy has been noted by Subramani and Stephen Sumida, among others
in passing, but he has received no sustained critique.' (56-57)
