We propose a duality scheme for solving constrained nonsmooth and nonconvex optimization problems in a reflexive Banach space. We establish strong duality for a very general type of augmented Lagrangian, in which we assume a less restrictive type of coercivity on the augmenting function. We solve the dual problem (in a Hilbert space) using a deflected subgradient method via this general augmented Lagrangian. We provide two choices of step-size for the method. For both choices, we prove that every weak accumulation point of the primal sequence is a primal solution. We also prove strong convergence of the dual sequence.