Alice in Wonderland, the 'glory, jest and riddle' of one facet of English literature, cannot be 'explained', for to explain nonsense is to dissect a bubble. Nevertheless, it is part of the background of every educated Englishman, and he who would attempt to understand England must, inevitably, 'take a view of it'.
I would say that, after Shakespeare, there is no English author more deserving of study by a foreigner interested in exploring English character and English humour than Lewis Carroll.