I've never thought abut fiction in this way, because I tend to look at writing in terms of the ways an author uses words, how they create images and meaning in each sentence, and how those come together over the whole work.

Me too, with the emphasis on the last sentence. What I mean is that while language, imagery, creative narrative structures are what makes me want to read in the first place, the story is the overall reason why a keep reading. But also the other way around, if it makes any sense.

In other words, I don't see language and story as separate, and the sign of good writing for me is the perfect language for the story it's trying to tell. This is especially true of fiction, I believe, which literally does not exist outside the language that tells it. So I don't see the two terms in contradiction, ever, unless it's bad writing.