I'm re-reading "Lolita" by Vladimir Nabokov right now, and I must say, the author is very consistent in never allowing himself merely to narrate: each paragraph, if not each sentence, is loaded with metaphors, allusions, elegant turns of phrase, humorous word-play, twisted and sprained shades of meaning, and so forth.
A very different author, William Faulkner, uses different words, different imagery, different everything, except the method: each paragraph, if not each sentence, is unmistakably Faulkner's, and all of them are packed with Faulkner's signature twists and turns.
There are a few others, including Joyce, whom I dislike intensely, but he, too, is one of ...
Well, that, actually, is the question. Is there a term for authors of that sort? I mean, "stylists" is what comes to mind first, except that in today's cultural climate, the word would sooner invoke images of the bright lights in a Manhattan beauty salon than those of a patient storyteller burning the midnight oil.
Clearly there is, or was, an entire movement, before and after World War II. There was a whole category of these people. Similar to, say, the Lake Poets.
Is there an official term?