From what I scanned of the selections of his published works, nearly all the best stuff seems to be in there as well. The selection of rare and/or posthumous works is also really good. The Portable does all the "dirty work" for us and includes only the most historically significant letters, or at least the most enjoyable reads for Kerouac fans. I flipped through the two volume collection of his letters in a used bookstore once and I just couldn't see how even a serious Kerouac fan would devote so much time to reading through all the riff raff of his casual communications to get to the meat of it all. I mostly bought this because it includes a nice selection of his letters. To be honest, I had already read about 80% of what is in this selection, as I was a big Kerouac fan in my teens and early 20s (and still am, really) and devoured all I could find of his.
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