"Playback" by Raymond Chandler (1958)

Aware of the material world's imperfections, he invests little in it. He invests little in general (except in his character), for fear of loss. He stirs up his environment in order to generate the data from which to learn and using which to teach by exposure---quickly and efficiently, since his encounters are brief.

He disentangles others' lives in order to uncover a story that he can admire and inscribe himself into.