Incredible Bodies is a 2006 campus novel by Ian McGuire satirising intellectual fashions and other aspects of academia (McGirr 2006).

His efforts to secure a permanent position are curtailed by his specialisation in the unfashionable novelist Arthur Alderley and his lack of background in Theory.

Subsequently, he is acclaimed as a leading light in the field of Body Studies, granting him access to the secure employment he desired.

On their return from the conference, it is discovered that van Camper has recovered, rather than dying as expected, and intends to expose Gutman's appropriation of his work.

Incredible Bodies was well received by critics, with Michael McGirr of the Sydney Morning Herald describing it as ‘witty and punishing’ (McGirr 2006) and John Mullan (2006) citing it as evidence that ‘the genre has plenty of misanthropic life in it’ in the New Statesman, in addition to noting ‘[McGuire's] colleagues might feel twitchy if they read his novel’.