The play was commissioned by puppeteer Emma Utges (Compagnie M.A., Lyon). It is composed of “147 permutable and optional propositions of spoken matter, for objects, masks, clowns or other entities”, almost all of them written for no character in particular. Previously, Patrick Dubost had published Jonas Orphée, another theatre play signed under his stage name Armand Le Poète, and that was also divided in 147 fragments.

The texts were written between 2005 and 2014, notably during several stays as an artist-in-residence in Montreal in 2007. The play received a writing grant from the French CNL (Centre National du Livre) in 2005, and financial support from the Rhônes-Alpes region (France) in 2010.

In 2007, the French Compagnie Arnica staged the play under the name La Mécanique des jours et des peines.

The text is a disjointed succession of small texts full of imagery that tackle in a humorous and poetic manner the ways in which the human brain functions (neurons, grey matter, cerebral hemisphere, transmission of information to organs) and rationalises human feelings, especially love. The texts mention metaphysical themes such as the universe, death, being, space or time.

The fragments can take various forms : scenes from everyday life, small story, poem, dialogue, reflexive monologue, aphorism, songs,... Some poems are in italics and follow a rhythmic or phonetic thread.